I reconstructed the table according to what my teacher would have wanted to see as well. 

The Sun Rising – John Donne

Introduction:

Metaphysical poetry essentially explores certain aspects of life which are beyond the physical realm of mankind. The Sun Rising by metaphysical poet John Donne, written in the late Elizabethan era, is an aubade poem set in the speaker's bedroom, where he and his lover lay in bed presumably after a night of passion. The poem is a celebration of their love through the metaphysical conceit carried in the form of the sun. The sun is anthropomorphised and seen as an unwanted dawn intruder, invading the lover’s solitude, and is initially insulted before being challenged.

Historical Context: The late Elizabethan era (Renascence), was also an era of emerging exploration, which justifies the several mentions of astronomy and travel. Several areas of the author’s life is covered in this poem

• -Raised Roman catholic
• -Had a promising political career by using his inheritance to travel across Europe. (cut short when he fell in love with Anne More à secretly married her à got caught and sent to prison but released when the marriage was proven valid).
• -John eventually became a cleric in the church of England.
• -John and Anne bore 12 children, the last which was a stillborn that also took the life of Anne More.

Records suggest that Donne loved his wife deeply and it makes sense to think of her as the female recipient of this poem, as reference to time spent together before marriage was discovered that the reason the sun rising is such a dismaying realization is because it means their time together is ended, since they cannot be seen in public for fear of discovery.

Typical: Donne wrote many amorous poems, using conceits to explore in depth the relationship between himself, the cosmos and love. What is typical of John Donne’s poetry is that he uses argumentation and reasoning to balance out passion combined with thought, which acts as proof that the sun has no power over the lovers. Although conversational, the tone of the poem is intellectual, there lies planet of complexity in his use of conceits and allusions.

Atypical: It explores this idea of love as being eternal, instead of love as being fickle and mutable which is seen in his other poems ‘The flea’ and ‘Woman’s constancy’. Instead of addressing the female passive recipient through a one-sided dialogue filled with rhetorical interrogatives, he instead addresses the sun, idolising the lover’s relationship.