"She's all states, and all princes I;
Nothing else is;"
"The Sun Rising"
John Donne (1572-1631)
BUSY old fool, unruly Sun,
Why dost thou thus,
Through windows, and through curtains, call on us ?
Must to thy motions lovers' seasons run ?
Saucy pedantic wretch, go chide
Late school-boys and sour prentices,
Go tell court-huntsmen that the king will ride,
Call country ants to harvest offices ;
Love, all alike, no season knows nor clime,
Nor hours, days, months, which are the rags of time.
Thy beams so reverend, and strong
Why shouldst thou think ?
I could eclipse and cloud them with a wink,
But that I would not lose her sight so long.
If her eyes have not blinded thine,
Look, and to-morrow late tell me,
Whether both th' Indias of spice and mine
Be where thou left'st them, or lie here with me.
Ask for those kings whom thou saw'st yesterday,
And thou shalt hear, "All here in one bed lay."
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 ;
Thine age asks ease, and since thy duties be
To warm the world, that's done in warming us.
Shine here to us, and thou art everywhere ;
This bed thy center is, these walls thy sphere.
This poem is in a form called metaphysical. The perspective is from a male lover speaking to the sun. The first stanza he is angry. Wait. Let's name him. How about Navarre? I think that's a good name. Anyway Navarre is angry in the first stanza because the sun has come up and his night with his lover must now end. Any poem with the subject of two lovers being interrupted by the rising of the sun is an aubade. Navarre tells the sun to go mess with some one else, and leave him with his lover. Navarre says he has power over the sun in the second stanza because he can close his eyes and the sun beams will disappear. Then the tone shifts when Navarre starts thinking about his lover, who I will call Isabeau.
"I could eclipse and cloud them with a wink,
But that I would not lose her sight so long."
He says that he can shut his eyes to block out that busy sun, but he couldn't stand not seeing her for any length of time. Navarre says that Isabeau is everything to him and rare like spice from India. Which was incredibly rare, precious, and valuable at the time this was written. In the last stanza the tone is now filled with Navarre's love for Isabeau. He states that since the sun warms everything in the world the sun could just warm them because Isabeau is his world. This poem that started angry ends up being incredibly romantic. What makes this poem last is that it contains the very meaning of love.
