John Donne - The Sun Rising
- Created by: Harleym7000
- Created on: 29-05-18 15:44
Fullscreen
- Knowledge of biographical context will heighten understanding of the poem, ‘The Sun Rising.’
- In 1598, Donne was appointed private secretary to Thomas Egerton, the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England.
- He became a Member of Parliament in 1601, as MP for Brackley, and sat in Queen Elizabeth’s last parliament.
- He was expected to embark on a promising political career. However, in 1601, Donne married Egerton’s seventeenyear-old niece, Anne More.
- Her father, George More, Lieutenant of the Tower, condemned the marriage. This led to Donne’s imprisonment until the marriage was proven valid.
- The reaction to the marriage ruined Donne’s career and thwarted his social ascent.
- In ‘The Sun Rising,’ Donne attempts to guard “lovers’ seasons.”
- Although, the speaker does not address a human critic – he presents a direct address to the sun - it is clear that the poem is born of personal frustration and that the poet feels impelled to express a persuasive defence of love.
- Donne elevates romantic love in ‘The Sun Rising’; however his immediate attention is wrested from the female lover due to the sun’s intrusion.
- The poem is composed of three ten-line stanzas.
- The first stanza of the poem contains the ill-tempered speaker’s virulent assault on the sun.
- The conceit is embedded in the poem: Donne exploits derisive adjectives to extend personification, attacking the sun’s attempts to interfere in the lovers’ pursuit of pleasure: “Busy old fool, unruly sun.”
- The poet varies line lengths and meter – iambic tetrameter in line 1, 5 and 6 of each stanza, dimeter in line 2 and iambic pentameter in lines 3, 4, 7, 8, 9 and 10 - and frames the rhyme scheme (ABBACDCDEE) to reinforce the speaker’s powerful and exasperated tone of voice.
- Donne establishes an intimate setting – the lovers’ bed –…
Comments
No comments have yet been made