"THE SUNNE RISING" POEM BY JOHN DONNE

Busie old foole, unruly Sunne,

Why dost thou thus,

Through windowes, and through curtaines call on us?

Must to thy motions lovers seasons run?

Sawcy pedantique wretch, goe chide

Late schoole boyes, and sowre prentices,

Goe tell Court-huntsmen, that the King will ride,

Call countrey ants to harvest offices;

Love, all alike, no season knowes, nor clyme,

Nor houres, dayes, moneths, which are the rags of time.

Thy beames, so reverend, and strong

Why shouldst thou thinke?

I could eclipse and cloud them with a winke,

But that I would not lose her sight so long:

If her eyes have not blinded thine,

Looke, and tomorrow late, tell mee,

Whether both the 'India's of spice and Myne

Be where thou leftst them, or lie here with mee.

Aske for those Kings whom thou saw'st yesterday,

And thou shalt heare, All here in one bed lay.

She's all States, and all Princes, I,

Nothing else is.

Princes doe but play us; compar'd to this,

All honor's mimique; All wealth alchimie.

Thou sunne art halfe as happy's as wee,

In that the world's contracted thus;

Thine age askes ease, and since thy duties bee

To warme the world, that's done in warming us.

Shine here to us, and thou art every where;

This bed thy center is, these walls, thy spheare.

Glossary

Line 1.Busie (old English usage) busybody, interfering
Line 4. thy... run not affected by sun's movements
Line 5. sawcy pért, audacious
Line 5. pedantique showy, superficial
Line 6. sowre prentices sour apprentices or trainees
Line 7. Court-huntsmen king's courtiers
Line 8. offices place of routine work
Line 11. reverend respected
Line 13. eclipse cover, obliterate
Line 15. blinded dazzled by powerful light
Line 22. nothing else is nothing else exists
Line 23. play us try to imitate our happiness
Line 24. mimique mock, ridicule
Line 24. alchimie deceptive, unreal
Line 30. spheare orbit of the sun

Explanatory Notes

Line 7. Court-huntsmen: courtiers who go with the king, the phrase refers to King James I who was addicted to hunting
Line 9. nor dymes: not affected by change in seasons.
Line 10. rags of times: regular units of times such as hours, days and months are insignificant
Line 13-12. I could eclipse... But that I would not... the lover would eclipse the bright rays of the sun by closing his eyes but he will lose sight of his mistress if he does so. For this reason he does not want to close his eyes even for a moment.
Line 17. Both the 'India's and Myne: the line refers to the East and West Indies; the East Indies are famous for spices and the West Indies for gold mines
Line 20. All here in one bed lay: the poet tells the sun that the kings and kingdoms of the world have contracted in to miniature form in the poet's bed
Line 22. Nothing else is: nothing remains beyond the two lovers; the world is not beyond them
Line 24. All honors mimique alchimie: all the glory of the kings and princes is an imitation (not real) of the honour and glory of the lovers' mutual relations, and the wealth of the kings is false; suggests that all the glory and wealth of the world cannot equal their true love
Line 27. Thine age asks ease: the sun is old and so should rest; it should reduce its movements (journey) over the spheres
Line 29. Shine here to us... art everywhere: if the sun does its duty and shines on the world (bedroom) of the lovers then it has done its work
Line 30. This bed thy centre... thy spheare: the bed of the lovers is the centre of the sun, i.e., the earth around which it can move from one orbit to the other; Donne seems to be using the old belief (of Ptolemian cosmology) that the sun moved around the earth