"The Sunne Rising" as a typical metaphysical poem.

"The Sunne Rising" is one of the representative metaphysical poems by John Donne. Before going to establish "The Sunne Rising" as a metaphysical poem, we have to know the principal characteristics of the metaphysical poetry ---

      1. A metaphysical poet treats the theme of love rationally and realistically.
   
      2. The metaphysical poetry is predominantly intellectual and analytical.

      3. The metaphysical poets generally yearn for something new and innovative.

      4. They use in their poetry many hyperboles and conceits  ("a combination of dissimilar images or discovery of occult resemblances in things apparently unlike").

      5. They freely combine abstract with the concrete, physical with the spiritual.

      6. The metaphysical poetry is very often obscure and queer.



               However, the poetry of John Donne and his followers and contemporaries celebrate earthly passions while treating the theme of love. In this respect, Donne's Poetry has been inspired by the ancient Greek poet Sappho and the Latin poet Catullus.



               Like the metaphysical poems, Donne's "The Sunne Rising" is also a peculiar mixture of emotion and intellect, seriousness and light heartedness. The poem begins very abruptly. The young lover addresses the sun as "busy old fool" and "unruly". He doesn't know any mannerism and disturbs the lovers ---

     "Why dost thou this,/ Through Windows, and through curtains, call on us?"



              The poet lover is feeling disturbed by this interference of the "unruly sun". The lover asserts that they are not at all governed by the movement of the sun. They build a separate world of the own.



            The poem is a characteristic amalgamation of reality and fantasy which is one of the distinguishing features of the metaphysical poetry. The poet- lover here rebukes the sun for disturbing them in their love making and says rather orders the sun to do his own work -----

        "Saucy pedantic wretch, go chide/ Late school boys, and sour practices,/  Go tell court- huntsmen that the king will ride,/ Call country ants to harvest offices."



             The poet lover in a tone of snubbing, says the sun that the lovers are beyond time. They do not follow the time's rule, they do what they want to do -------

      "Love, all alike, no season knows, nor clime,/ Nor hours, days, months, which are the rags of time."



              The poet in a metaphysical manner writes in his poetry that the sun is very much proud of the authority he exercises over mankind. But the poet says that he is more powerful than the sun because he "could eclipse and cloud them with a wink."



              In his another poem, "The Anniversarie", he also asserts that love is beyond any material things and love cannot be dominated by the material things ----

        "When thou and I first one another saw:/ All other things, their destruction draw,/ Only our love hath no decay."



             Use of hyperbole is a predominant feature of metaphysical poetry. The poet says that their love has converted the bedroom into a whole universe. The poet lover writes :

       "......All here in one bed lay.
        She's all states and all princes I
        Nothing else is.
        Princes doe but play us, compar'd to this
        All honor's mimique; all wealth alchimie."



               The lover's world is the microcosm of the whole universe. So, the sun needs not to travel the world to warm it down. It is better for him to shine on the lover's love- bower. Warming the lover's bed is equal to warming the whole universe :

 "To warm the world, that's fine is warming us.
  Shine here to us, and thou art everywhere;
   This bed thy centre is, these walls, thy sphere."



            Thus John Donne here uses the metaphysical features of poetry all throughout the poem. He here treats the theme of love with a clear evidence of intellect and wit. And after examining the whole Poetry, we must say that this is the most prominent representative poem by John Donne.