"The Sun Rising" is a poem written by the English poet John Donne. Donne wrote a wide range of social satire, sermons, holy sonnets, elegies, and love poems throughout his lifetime, and he is perhaps best known for the similarities between his erotic poetry and his religious poetry. Much of his work, including "The Sun Rising," was published after his death in the 1633 collection Songs and Sonnets. In "The Sun Rising," the speaker orders the sun to warm his bed so that he and his lover can stay there all day instead of getting up to go to work. The poem's playful use of language and extended metaphor exemplifies Donne's style across his work, erotic and religious alike.
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The Full Text of “The Sun Rising”
1 Busy old fool, unruly sun,
2 Why dost thou thus,
3Through windows, and through curtains call on us?
4Must to thy motions lovers' seasons run?
5 Saucy pedantic wretch, go chide
6 Late school boys and sour prentices,
7 Go tell court huntsmen that the king will ride,
8 Call country ants to harvest offices,
9Love, all alike, no season knows nor clime,
10Nor hours, days, months, which are the rags of time.
11 Thy beams, so reverend and strong
12 Why shouldst thou think?
13I could eclipse and cloud them with a wink,
14But that I would not lose her sight so long;
15 If her eyes have not blinded thine,
16 Look, and tomorrow late, tell me,
17 Whether both th' Indias of spice and mine
18 Be where thou leftst them, or lie here with me.
19Ask for those kings whom thou saw'st yesterday,
20And thou shalt hear, All here in one bed lay.
21 She's all states, and all princes, I,
22 Nothing else is.
23Princes do but play us; compared to this,
24All honor's mimic, all wealth alchemy.
25 Thou, sun, art half as happy as we,
26 In that the world's contracted thus.
27 Thine age asks ease, and since thy duties be
28 To warm the world, that's done in warming us.
29Shine here to us, and thou art everywhere;
30This bed thy center is, these walls, thy sphere.
The Full Text of “The Sun Rising”
1 Busy old fool, unruly sun,
2 Why dost thou thus,
3Through windows, and through curtains call on us?
4Must to thy motions lovers' seasons run?
5 Saucy pedantic wretch, go chide
6 Late school boys and sour prentices,
7 Go tell court huntsmen that the king will ride,
8 Call country ants to harvest offices,
9Love, all alike, no season knows nor clime,
10Nor hours, days, months, which are the rags of time.
11 Thy beams, so reverend and strong
12 Why shouldst thou think?
13I could eclipse and cloud them with a wink,
14But that I would not lose her sight so long;
15 If her eyes have not blinded thine,
16 Look, and tomorrow late, tell me,
17 Whether both th' Indias of spice and mine
18 Be where thou leftst them, or lie here with me.
19Ask for those kings whom thou saw'st yesterday,
20And thou shalt hear, All here in one bed lay.
21 She's all states, and all princes, I,
22 Nothing else is.
23Princes do but play us; compared to this,
24All honor's mimic, all wealth alchemy.
25 Thou, sun, art half as happy as we,
26 In that the world's contracted thus.
27 Thine age asks ease, and since thy duties be
28 To warm the world, that's done in warming us.
29Shine here to us, and thou art everywhere;
30This bed thy center is, these walls, thy sphere.
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“The Sun Rising” Summary
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“The Sun Rising” Themes
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The Authority of Love
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Love as a Microcosm of the Universe
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Love and Divinity
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “The Sun Rising”
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Lines 1-3
Busy old fool, unruly sun,
Why dost thou thus,
Through windows, and through curtains call on us? -
Line 4
Must to thy motions lovers' seasons run?
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Lines 5-8
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, -
Lines 9-10
Love, all alike, no season knows nor clime,
Nor hours, days, months, which are the rags of time. -
Lines 11-14
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; -
Lines 15-20
If her eyes have not blinded thine,
Look, and tomorrow late, tell me,
Whether both th' Indias of spice and mine
Be where thou leftst 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. -
Lines 21-22
She's all states, and all princes, I,
Nothing else is. -
Lines 23-24
Princes do but play us; compared to this,
All honor's mimic, all wealth alchemy. -
Lines 25-28
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. -
Lines 29-30
Shine here to us, and thou art everywhere;
This bed thy center is, these walls, thy sphere.
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“The Sun Rising” Symbols
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The Sun
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Empire
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“The Sun Rising” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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Personification
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Extended Metaphor
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Cacophony
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Euphony
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Alliteration
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Enjambment
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Caesura
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Apostrophe
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Rhetorical Question
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Aphorism
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Syllogism
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Aphorismus
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Asyndeton
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Diacope
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Anaphora
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“The Sun Rising” Vocabulary
Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.
- Busy
- Unruly
- Dost
- Thou/thy/thine
- Season
- Saucy
- Pedantic
- Wretch
- Chide
- Sour
- Prentices
- Country ants
- Offices
- Clime
- Rags of time
- Reverend
- Th' Indias of spice and mine
- States
- Mimic
- Alchemy
- Contracted
- Asks
- Sphere
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- See where this vocabulary word appears in the poem.
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “The Sun Rising”
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Form
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Meter
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Rhyme Scheme
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“The Sun Rising” Speaker
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“The Sun Rising” Setting
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Literary and Historical Context of “The Sun Rising”
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More “The Sun Rising” Resources
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External Resources
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Articles and Essays on Donne — See what some other scholars have had to say about Donne's work.
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Digitized First Edition — See a digitized first edition of some of Donne's poetry, including "The Sun Rising."
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"The Sun Rising" Read Aloud — Listen to a recording of renowned Shakespearean actor Richard Burton reading Donne's entire poem aloud.
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Donne's Biography and Bibliography — Browse a short biography of Donne and a selected bibliography of his prose and poetry collections.
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"In Our Time" Podcast Episode — Listen to an introduction to Donne and the other Metaphysical Poets from BBC's "In Our Time" podcast.
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LitCharts on Other Poems by John Donne
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