The Sun Rising

Consider Donne’s “The Sun Rising” as a metaphysical love poem.

John Donne is the master of metaphysical poetry and is celebrated for his ability to
combine intellectual depth with emotional intensity. He is highly praised by T.S.
Eliot for his ‘unification of sensibility’. Eliot believed that the metaphysicals had a
unified sensibility. He argued that after the 17th century, a dissociation of sensibility
set in, which harmed English poetry. Eliot believed that this dissociation was due
to the one-sided emphasis placed on intellect since the time of Milton. Eliot used
John Donne’s poetry as an example of unified sensibility and thought. Eliot
believed that Donne’s ability to unify intellectual thought and the sensation of
feeling was a key feature of his poetry.
Donne’s poetry beautifully blends physical and spiritual elements. He made
extensive use of a unique style marked by wit, paradoxes, and metaphysical
conceits. “The Sun Rising” is a quintessential example of Donne’s metaphysical
love poetry. The poem celebrates love’s power, portraying it as superior to the
natural world and time itself. It begins with a dramatic and witty address to the sun,
rebuking it for intruding upon the speaker’s intimate moment with his beloved. The
speaker’s tone is both playful and defiant, as he challenges the sun’s authority and
extols the transcendence of love. The poem’s central theme revolves around the
idea that love is self-sufficient, timeless, and superior to all worldly concerns. The
speaker addresses the sun as a “busy old fool” and an “unruly sun,” questioning
why it disturbs the lovers:
“Busie old fool, unruly sunne,
Why dost thou thus,
Through windowes, and through curtains call on us?”
This unusual dramatic opening sets the tone for the poem using metaphysical
conceits from the very beginning. The sun, a symbol of power and authority, is
reduced to a meddlesome intruder. The speaker believes that love is the supreme
power over any natural agent or forces.
James Smith regards the Metaphysical poetry as akin to an epistemological
exercise. In this respect, he states that “wit focuses an interest in the rendering of
our ambiguous state when sensation and idea interfuse in the language itself”. It
becomes evident that the distinguishing general characteristic of the seventeenth
century poetry is the remarkable combination of an aggressive intellectuality with
the lyric form and spirit. The speaker asserts that love is not bound by time,
seasons, or physical constraints. In a moment of defiance, he mocks the sun’s role
in regulating the world’s activities. The metaphysical quality of the poem is
transforming the abstract concepts like love into physical realities of the universe.
The speaker dismisses the importance of time, asserting that love exists beyond its
limitations.
“Love, all alike, no season knows nor clime,
Nor hours, days, monthes, which are the rags of time.”
The poem is replete with humour and verbal wit. The speaker acknowledges the
strength of the sun’s rays but confidently asserts that he could overshadow them by
simply closing his eyes. However, the speaker’s devotion to his beloved prioritized
her presence over the sun’s grandeur. The imagery conveys the speaker’s belief in
the power of love to surpass even the most formidable natural forces.
“I could eclipse and cloud them with a wink,
But that I would not lose her sight so long.”
In the metaphysical poetry conceit plays a significant role. Helen Gardner observed
that ‘a conceit is a comparison whose ingenuity is more striking than its justness’
and that ‘a comparison becomes a conceit when we are made to concede likeness
while being strongly conscious of unlikeness.’ The use of conceits is all pervasive
in the metaphysical poems, especially in those of John Donne. In many of his
poems, conceits seem to form the crux of metaphysical poetry. In “The Sun Rising”
also, the speaker elevates his love to cosmic significance. He argues that their love
encompasses the entire world:
“She’s all States, and all Princes, I;
Nothing else is.”
Donne’s wit is deliberate and peculiar. It impresses us with its intellectual vigour
and force. It does not merely lie in the dexterous or ingenious use of words. Critics
believe that it comes naturally from the author’s expansive knowledge and deep
scholarship. The speaker boldly claims that all wealth and power are contained
within their shared intimacy, reducing the rest of the world to insignificance. In the
concluding lines, the speaker cleverly redefines the sun’s purpose. He asserts that
its duty to warm the world can be fulfilled by shining upon the lovers. Their little
room becomes a microcosm of the macrocosmic universe. This paradoxical
statement fuses the physical and spiritual realms together, which a hallmark of
metaphysical poetry. He says:
“To warm the world, that’s done in warming us.”
Donne’s poetry is infused with wit, humour, and paradoxes, which add a playful
and intellectual quality to his exploration of love. Donne’s metaphysical conceits
are one of the most defining features of his love poetry. His poetry is always
capable of a unique amalgamation of emotional intensity with philosophical depth.
Through his poem “The Sun Rising” , Donne redefines love, a union that
transcends traditional boundaries.
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