The
tone used in the second stanza is that of a lover challenging the sun, an
element which he feels creates disturbance in his and his beloved’s life. This
can be said to be a change from the irritated and rude tone adopted in the
first stanza, where Donne is absolutely outraged and disappointed by the rising
of the sun. Donne uses a persuasive technique in his poems which entails him
gradually building up his argument with logic, stanza by stanza. We can see him
using this technique in other poems such as, “The Flea” where he tries to
convince his beloved in favour of physical love by first comparing how a flea
sucking blood from their two bodies is like the mingling of their bloods which
is similar to the act of copulation. He goes on further to tell her how
copulation does not invoke loss of honour and is not considered as a crime.
Similarly, in “The Sun Rising”, the poet concentrates on first making the sun
aware of his irritation by its existence and then explaining how he (Donne) can
overpower him if he wants. Thus, he is trying to establish the insignificance
of the sun or any other external disturbance faced by the two lovers as they
are consumed in each other’s love so much that they do not bother about
others.
Donne
further establishes the high status of his beloved and himself through the use
of conceits. Conceits have been used by Donne in most of his poems as it is a
way to give the reader a precise image of his argument by giving his argument
features of objects or other elements. Dryden Johnson, a critic, said that
Donne’s poetry is full of geographical, theological and religious conceits and
thus, this makes his poetry more real and strengthens his argument. In his
poem, “Valediction: A Forbidden Mourning”, the poet makes use of a conceit by
saying that the two lovers are like a compass. It shows how in a compass when
the needle revolves and is held by a foothold, similarly when the poet travels;
his foothold will always remain his beloved. In “The Sun Rising”, vivid imagery
is used to bring across the poet’s concept that he and his beloved are all that
he cares and knows about. He raises his beloved’s status by telling the sun
that he can look around but will not find a woman who is so complex and exalted
as his beloved as she is more precious than the spices and mines of gold and
silver of the East and West Indies. The poet’s concept of ownership comes in
when he refers to himself as all the kings in the world put together and his
beloved as all the land in the world. He shows how they have the strong bond of
a King and state.
The
poet ends by saying, “This bed thy center is, these walls, thy sphere.” Thus,
he creates the concept of microcosm as the world only consists of him and his
beloved and their love is eternal and everlasting, it transcends time as he
refers hours, days and months to be “rags of time”. Donne expresses his exalted
and untraditional loveby making the sun aware of it and by ending his argument
to the sun with a grim acceptance of its existence, but also a commitment that
no matter what happens; the poet and his beloved are content whereas, the sun
is “half as happy as we”.
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