ISSN No. 0974-035X
An Indexed Refereed Journal of Higher Education
Towards Excellence
UGC-ACADEMIC STAFF COLLEGE,
GUJARAT UNIVERSITY, AHMEDABAD, INDIA
DONNE’S TREATMENT OF NATURE IN THE RISING SUN
Dr. Rajani Suthar
&
Ms. Jill Joshi
Abstract
The Seventeenth Century was, undoubtedly, a golden age as far as English poetry is
concerned. In the Elizabethan Age, Shakespeare and Milton stand as towering figures; but the
poems of Jonson, Dryden and Donne are equally noteworthy. Each had their unique sensibility and
style. John Donne(1572-1631) was one such prominent multifaceted personality(he was a poet,
prose writer and translator) of the Elizabethan Age. He was an exponent of Metaphysical poetry.
The poets belonging to Metaphysical School depicted peculiar traits. Their work was a unique an
amalgamation of wit and emotions. His poems were sensitive and witty at the same time. Like the
other metaphysical poets, his poems abound in conceits and startling comparisons with a novel
take on the mundane. Some of his prominent poems include:The Dream, Death be Not Proud, The
Flea, Daybreak, The Funeral, A Fever, A Hymn to God the Father, Air and Angels, The Ecstacy,
The Paradox, Confined Love, Self Love, Holy Sonnet, Song etc.The present paper is an attempt to
examine Donne’s psyche and with his take on nature, especially, the sun in his mesmerizing poem
The Rising Sun.
Keywords: Poetry, Seventeenth Century, Elizabethan Age, Metaphysical School
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1.
Introduction
The Encyclopedia Britannica defines Metaphysical poets as follows:
Metaphysical poet, any of the poets in 17th-century England who inclined to the personal
and intellectual complexity and concentration that is displayed in the poetry of John Donne,
the chief of the Metaphysicals. Others include Henry Vaughan, Andrew Marvell, John
Cleveland, and Abraham Cowley as well as, to a lesser extent, George Herbert and Richard
Crashaw (Britannica.com).
Unlike the Romantics, their poems were not merely, “spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings,”
but rather a queer blend of feelings and intellect. Another peculiar characteristic found in
Metaphysical poetry is its use of ‘conceit.’ The term ‘conceit’ has been defined as,
an excessively favorable opinion of one's own ability, importance, wit, etc.something that
is conceived in the mind; a thought; idea:imagination; fancy,a fancy; whim; fanciful notion.
an elaborate, fanciful metaphor, especially of a strained or far-fetched nature. the use of
such metaphors as a literary characteristic, especially in poetry (Dictionary.com)
Therefore, a conceit is a juxtaposition of two irrelevant or unconnected thoughts or things. The
poet, essentially, desires to create a sense of astonishment in the mind of the readers about the
comparison. The metaphysical poets also displayed a keen sense of wit and a unique take on
objects, nature, relationships and life at large. They had their unique sensibility and way of
thinking which was unconventional and not thought of earlier.
The themes of metaphysical poetry are diverse and shed light on human life and experience from
the critical perspective. The theme selection, in such type of poetry, is that which appeals to the
knowledgeable. It is embellished with out of ordinary verse forms and figures of speech which are
applied to use of conceits. In addition to this, metaphysical poems are, by and large, lyric poems
depicting intense thoughts and ideas. At times, these ideas are presented in the form of a
systematic argument.
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2. Donne’s Style of Writing and His Prominent Works
Donne was the founder of, as Samuel Johnson puts it, “metaphysical poets,” alongwith a
group of other poets like George Herbert, Andrew Marvell and Richard Crashew. His style of
writing is an amalgamation of both: spiritual as well as materialistic aspect of life. He is both
religious and sensational at the same time. His tone is conversational, impulsive and at times
inconsistent. He can, with ease and elan, seamlessly bind together both religion and science- which
was the inner conflict by those belonging to the late sixteenth and early seventeenth century.
Another unique feature of his style is his inclusion of the element of drama and unusual openings.
His prominent works include: Divine Poems(1607) and the prose work Biathanatos(Posthumously
published in1644).
3. Donne’s The Rising Sun
The Rising Sun is one of the most appealing love poem written by John Donne in. It
provides and unusual angle to love and nature, in this case, the sun. It comprises of three stanzas of
ten lines each. As the speaker lies on the bed in the company of his beloved, he gets irritated by the
fact that it is dawn and the sun has rizen; he tries to reprimand the sun by calling him a “busy old
fool” bothering them by peeping through the windows curtains. He instructs the sun to bother
others (rather than him) who are going about their routines such as “late schoolboys” or “sour
apprentices.”
Further, the speaker goes on to ask the sun the reason behind it feeling that its rays are
powerful and penetrating when they could be obstructed by mere closing of the eyes. He asks the
sun whether its eyes have become sightless on observing the sparkle in his lover’s eyes. He tells
the sun to inform him the next day whether the Indian treasures are in the same place as they were
previously. He also wants to know from the sun about the kings it shone on the day before as he
feels that they all have been one with the speaker in the past.
4. Donne’s Treatment of Nature in The Rising Sun
The Rising Sunbegins with personification of the sun as a “busy old fool” disturbing others. Donne
chides the sun and asks it to do go and bother others and not him as he is in the company of his
beloved. The rays of the sun penetrating through the window makes him feel as if the sun has
deliberately invaded his privacy.
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Donne goes on to ridicule the sun by mentioning that though its, “beams so reverent and strong” yet
they do not glimmer as brightly as his beloved’s eyes: “if her eyes have not blinded thine.” The
comparison of the beloved’s eyes to the sun is a common occurrence in Renaissance poetry.
Shakespeare in Sonnet 130 Shakespeare proclaims, “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun”
In addition to this, Donne also attempts to unify his experience of love with the lushness of nature
found across the world:
She's all states, and all princes I;
Nothing else is;
Princes do but play us; compared to this,
All honour's mimic, all wealth alchemy.
Thou, Sun, art half as happy as we,
In that the world's contracted thus;
This bold comparison is one of the best examples of hyperbole. This strange endeavour to shrink
the entire world to the lovers’ bed is Donne’s novel version on human relations and their
amalgamation with nature. It is an attempt to unify himself and his experience of love with nature.
The final line of the poem reinstates Ptolemaic view that earth is the centre of Universe and Sun
revolves around it, “This bed thy centre is, these walls, thy spheare.”
5. Conclusion
Though the poem is considered as one of Donne’s best love poems that depicts the true feeling of
lovers who wish to remain together for eternity and want their love to surpass time and distance.
They yearn to be inseparable making all the physical world around them trivial and irrelevant. But
Donne’s unique interpretation of nature in the poem, especially sun, cannot be overlooked. He asks
question to the sun and demands for explanation as it the sun was his counterpart of sub-ordinate.
He neither glorifies the sun nor considers it to be omni-potent. The tone throughout the poem is
that of scorn and ridicule towards the sun. Moreover, he adopts a more inclusive and
conversational approach almost in a form of a one-sided dialogue the sun, to him, is like a
neighbour or a friend who meets him on a routine basis.
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Works Cited
“Conceit.” Dictionary.com. N.d. 22 Jul 2016. Web.
<http://www.dictionary.com /browse/conceit>
Donne, John. Shoop.com. Donne’s The Rising Sun. 22 Jul 2016. Web.
<http://www.shmoop.com/the-sun-rising/poem-text.html>
“MetaphysicalPoets.” www.britannica.com. N.d. 22 Jul 2016.
Web.
<https://www.britannica.com/art/Metaphysical-poets>
Shakespeare, William. “Sonnet 130” Shakespeare-online. N.d. 22 Jul 2016.
Web.http://www.shakespeare-online.com/sonnets/130.html
Dr. Rajani Suthar
Assistant Professor
Department of Mathematics and Humanities
Ms. Jill Joshi
&
Student
Uma Arts College,Gandhinagar.
Institute of Technology
Nirma University,Ahmedabad
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