Sun Rising

John Donne's poem, while falling away from the typical Elizabethan love poem, still exaggerates the experience of love, yet in a more direct manner. In this poem, Donne elevates love above all else, using the sun as an antagonist, and criticizing the sun for infringing upon the bliss of two lovers. However, the sun can have several radical connotations, representing the King of England, or even God himself. In the 17th century, the sun was at the top of the "chain of being" and could also be equated with others at the top of the social and spiritual chain of being, thus the comparison to God and the King. In Donne's view, the sun should cater to the needs of the lovers "since thy duties be to warm the world" (l 27). Rather than lovers having a duty to God or the King, these figures of power now wait upon the lovers, thus placing love on a pedestal which the rest of universe revolves around, which also mirrors the ptolemaic solar system of the time. This is an interesting exaggeration of love in the 17th century, and how the ideals of that time play into this poem.