This is a poem written by one of the greatest poets in the history of English literature. This poem has been written by John Donne who was regarded as the pioneer in the field of metaphysical Poetry. He was arguably one of the renowned poet in the history of metaphysical poems .This poem depicts the love and respect the author had for his wife. This poem has been written as a farewell tribute to his wife. This poem was being written before he left her and went to England. He was on a special mission to Europe. This poem can be best described as a “A Valediction “ and can be regarded as one of the notable contribution to philosophical poems.
In the current poem the feeling of Romanticism is being revealed between a husband and his wife or between the lover and the beloved. The first stanzas is :
“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 …”
These lines state the mindset of the author who is scolding the Sun and he calls him “busy old fool and unruly”. This is the first poem where the author is trying to scold the sun. He tells the Sun not to distract him through curtains and windows. He further asks him to waken the students who would be late going to the school. He tells him to rouse up court huntsmen and be ready for the king arrival. He further asks the sun to awaken the ants for cropping in the daytime. In this stanza he has tried to show us the nature of love which is not confined to any season, hours, and months and time.The second stanza is as follows:-
“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.”
In the second stanza the poet mocks the sun by saying that the rays of the sun are very powerful but not much as compared to the degree of love between him and his wife who are lying on bed. He further clarifies that he can cut down the sun rays by just closing his eyes but he can’t do so as he would miss the mesmerizing beauty of his wife for that second. He does not want to miss the sight of his beloved wife even for a second. In the next few lines he is indeed thankful to the sun for his rays since it is helping him to see his beloved on the bed. He further indicates that the whole world is lying on his bed. The poet challenges the Sun to match his sight to the eyes of his beloved. If he is able to do that he will be unable to tell him about the next day. He will not find the treasures of India on its place because all the treasures are accompanying him on his bed in form of his beloved. All the kings are so not so powerful as his love. All the kings are lying with him on his bed in the form of his beloved. It means that his beloved is the whole world for him. In the third stanza the poet says that-
“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.”
The author reveals that he is the Princess and his beloved is the State. He further assets that the whole wealth has been centred around on his bed. He says that princess is nothing as compared to him and his lover. The honour they receive in a kingdom is completely baseless and false. He tells the sun that he is completely happy and sun’s happiness is being halved as the bed on whom both are lying is representing the whole world where author is expressing his supremacy with his wife. He asks the sun to revolve around his bed which is regarded as the focal point and the walls as the orbit. The sun is being advised to warm the couple whole day long on their bed and in doing so the sun would do the duty of warming the world.
The whole poem can be summarized in the following manner where the sun is being scolded at the first instance. He had a piece of advice to the sun immediately after the aforesaid incident. The sun is being personified in the first three stanzas of this particular poem. The author is trying to communicate with the sun as if the sun is a human being and the sun is bound to follow the instructions being given to him. In the second stanza the poet had appreciated the sun but in the meanwhile he had criticized him for disturbing the lover and the beloved. In the third stanza, the role of the sun is being directed to revolve round his bed which is regarded as the centre of the entire universe. In this poem the author wants to highlight that love is simply incomparable .Love is beyond time or any material gain which is being beautifully cited in this poem..The feeling of love is being aroused by the speaker in this famous poem. The Rhyme Scheme of the poem is ABBACDCDEE. The poet has used hyperbole as like a tool while writing this poetry.
Recent Comments