Scribd
Upload
103 views2 pages

Stylistic Analysis

The poem "The Sun Rising" by John Donne explores three main themes - love, community, and dissatisfaction. The speaker addresses the rising sun to scorn it for interrupting his time with his beloved. He feels their love makes them the center of the universe, above societal obligations. Behind his bravado, the speaker knows he will eventually have to rejoin the outside world. The sun is used as a symbol representing the speaker's desire to remain lost in boundless love for his partner, rather than face reality.

Uploaded by

Meshu Qadir
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
103 views2 pages

Stylistic Analysis

The poem "The Sun Rising" by John Donne explores three main themes - love, community, and dissatisfaction. The speaker addresses the rising sun to scorn it for interrupting his time with his beloved. He feels their love makes them the center of the universe, above societal obligations. Behind his bravado, the speaker knows he will eventually have to rejoin the outside world. The sun is used as a symbol representing the speaker's desire to remain lost in boundless love for his partner, rather than face reality.

Uploaded by

Meshu Qadir
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 2

Themes & symbolism in poem:

The three main themes of the poem “the sun rising” are love, community and
dissatisfaction.

Love: Love in "The Sun Rising" is immediate and romantic; remember, he is writing this
just as he is waking up with his beloved. It's also the sort of love that makes you feel
invincible, like you could throw down with an MMA champ or the Hulk. After all, we're
talking about the kind of love that makes the speaker feel like he can pick a fight with
the sun. The dude literally thinks that he and his lover are the center of the universe.
The speaker's brazen attitude about his love shows that it is a feverish, immature sort of
love.
The speaker has allowed love to shut off his ability to see anything else in the world.
That might sound romantic, but it's not a sustainable way to live.

Community: We aren't just individuals—we are part of a larger society, and John Donne
won't let you forget it. Still, "The Sun Rising" is a lot about a speaker's desire to (even
temporarily) escape the responsibilities and restrictions of the outside world and just
experience his love. You know, without all the meddling from friends and family. The
speaker says it's not just Virginia—the whole world is for lovers.
The speaker feels that lovers are above all other members of the community: workers,
kings, students.
The speaker believes that the outside community (starting with the sun, but including
society) will only work to spoil his love. He wishes they would all just disappear.

Dissatisfaction: "The Sun Rising" is a love poem, but you'll notice the speaker never
actually talks to his main squeeze. Instead, he's whining at the sun to leave him alone.
Mostly, that's because he doesn't want the night to end. He doesn't want to rejoin the
world. Hey, speaker, we never said love was easy.
Behind all his strutting, the speaker knows that the sun will rise; he'll have to leave his
love and go back to his normal life.

Symbolism:
“The Sun Rising” As a Representative of Love reflects the speaker’s boundless adoration
for his lover. The poem begins when the speaker, lying in bed with his lady. He scolds
the rising sun, asking why it is irritating them through curtains and windows. He asks the
sun to go and bother those who start their work early in the morning. To him, it should
not interfere with the speaker’s time with his lover. He also challenges the strong
sparkling sunbeams by saying that he could eclipse them merely by closing his eyes. He
compares his beloved to every country in the world as if she means a whole world to
him. Thus, his whole world is compressed in that bedroom. Therefore, he commands
the sun to do its job by keeping them warm.
1. The sun rising as a Metaphysical poem:
John Donne was best known for his metaphysical poetry. In ‘The Sun Rising’ he used
different images like sun, windows, curtains, country ants and so on. The poet maintains
his traditional way of putting the first line very striking and ode to capture the attention
of readers. He is direct addressing to the sun. Love and friendship are not bound with
the motion of the sun. He praised and accolades the beauty of his beloved.

You might also like