Write A Critical Appriciation Of The Sun Rising By John Donne

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Write a critical appreciation of ‘The Sun Rising’

‘The Sun Rising’ is a love poem about a frustrated lover, woken by the sun. It opens with a mocking tone towards the Sun. The tone throughout is one of aggravation and, I think a touch of egotism is evident. Donne seems to ignore love poetry’s conventional method of rhyming beautifully and gracefully and instead shocks the reader with unexpected turns of phrase and conceit such as ‘Saucy, pedantic wretch, go chide’ and ‘Thou sun art half as happy as we’.

Donne’s language is direct and conversational which is emphasized by his use of colloquialisms and conflict. There is great debate over weather Donne’s poems include to many ‘ideas’ and not enough ‘emotion’, and if this is an appropriate commendable way of writing love poetry. ‘The Sun Rising’ is a good example over these two qualities to a poem.

Stanza 1 opens with a mocking tone which is both rude and arrogant. The lover talks to the sun in a conversational manner, which personifies the sun so the reader can imagine this conversation going on. Donne puts the sun in its place and notes how its job is with the ordinary boring people. He seeks to remind the ambitious that it is time to go off to the royal court to seek their fortunes, and not with the lovers, whom he makes out are exceptionally more important then the sun itself.

As we can see from the text: ‘Call country ants to harvest offices; Love, all alike, no season knows, nor clime’ Donne places lovers on a celestial plane, more important than everyday people who are locked within their boring jobs. However, with the last two lines of this stanza, the poets voice changes as it turns to the more important aspects of lovers. After stating that love is beyond seasons, the pace slows down and the tone changes to one of greater importance than the mocking of the Sun at the beginning.

In stanza 2, the tone gets more aggressive and di...