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READ THIS
This is a rather complicated but saucy love poem in which the poet addresses the Sun and speaks to him
about love and about his loved one.
The poet centres on the heat of passion and on the solitary focus of the two lovers: they are the centre
of the universe, while all wealth and happiness is but an imitation of their wealth and happiness.
ABOUT THE POET
John Donne -- pronounced "Dunn" -- was born in London in 1572. His was a wealthy Catholic
family.
It was the time of the English Reformation, however, which meant that being a Catholic carried onerous
restrictions.
For example, although Donne went to both Oxford and Cambridge Universities, he could not graduate
without taking the Oath of Supremacy, something which he refused at the time to do.
His father left him a sizeable inheritance. The poet was a known womaniser, however, and made the
dreadful mistake of marrying one of these women in secret.
This caused his father-in-law to throw him into prison, refusing to pay his daughter's dowry.
The disgrace saw Donne cast out of a promising prosperous career. To mark this tragedy, Donne wrote
his now famous three line poem:
John Donne,
Anne Donne,
Undone.
It would take some ten years for the breach to heal and Donne's fortunes to look up.
At about this time the poet also decided to renounce the Catholic Church, probably because of the
advantages that being an Anglican would offer him.
His anti-Catholic writings soon caught the eye of King James himself who believed that Donne would be
a good churchman.
The poet, it seems, was then forced into taking Holy Orders against his will but nevertheless became
famous for the quality of the sermons which he preached.
Donne lived when the Voyages of Discovery were at their peak and talk was abounding of the New World
in the Americas.
Dinner parties would be dominated by maps showing the expansion of the British Empire versus the
regions being occupied by the Spaniards and the French.
Anne Donne died in 1617 while giving birth to their twelfth child. The poet's own life would take on a sickly
hue from then on, until he himself died in 1631.
Have you looked at the questions
in the right column?
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TEST YOURSELF!
Read the left column and then answer
the following questions:
"BUSY old fool, unruly Sun,
Why dost thou thus,
Through windows, and through curtains, call on us?
Must to thy motions lovers' seasons run?"
- What is the purpose of using the upper-case for "Sun"? (2)
[Need help?]
The upper-case is used here to show personification. The Sun is presented as
a person who wanders through the streets at dawn, peeping in through windows and curtains.
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- What image of the Sun is the poet depicting in these lines? How do you know? (4)
[Need help?]
The Sun is depicted as a dirty old man, a Peeping Tom, who tries to sneak quick peeks through windows
and through gaps in curtains to see what is happening inside.
Furthermore, the Sun is mostly interested in what sexual activities he can spy inside the drawn bedroom
curtains.
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- Why is the Sun described as a "busy old fool" and "unruly"? (4)
[Need help?]
The Sun is very busy trying to peep where he shouldn't be looking. He is just a dirty old man.
In the poet's day, where men were supposed to behave themselves and show good manners, the Sun's
behaviour of peeping through bedroom curtains would have been offensive.
He is therefore a "busy old fool" -- or someone who would be termed a "busy-body" with
a dirty mind.
The word "fool" was also sometimes used in the poet's day to refer to the court jester whose
function it was to entertain the King and keep him in a good humour.
The court jester or "fool" could essentially behave as he wished. In this sense, the Sun too has
licence to do as he wishes, and look wherever he wants.
He has permission therefore to be "unruly" and to be a "busy old fool".
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- Why does the poet refer to "seasons" and "motions" in the words "Must to thy motions
lovers' seasons run?" (4)
[Need help?]
The poet clearly uses "seasons" metaphorically. Just as the Sun has seasons when he blows hot
or cold (Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter), so do lovers have seasons.
In this case, it's the season to make love and this is seen by the lovers' motions in bed.
It's dawn, representing the courtship phase where most young men (and many young women) think about
making love. And so the busy old Sun is trying to peep through the curtains to see them at it.
Nevertheless, the poet refers to the Sun's motions as well -- and asks why it is that lovers must plan their
moments of love-making according to the motions of the sun, i.e. having to cease simply because the Sun
chooses to rise at dawn.
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"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."
- What is the poet telling the Sun to do? (4)
[Need help?]
The poet is telling the Sun to stop peeping through the curtains and to do some other more honest work:
like waking up the school kids and the apprentices, or telling the huntsmen that it's time to go and hunt,
or even telling the ants that it is time to work.
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- What do the words "saucy", "pedantic" and "wretch" mean? What do they tell you
about the poet's attitude towards the sun? (6)
[Need help?]
The word "saucy" means "cheeky" and is often used in a sexual sense: "She made a
saucy remark to him."
A person is "pendantic" if he or she is overly concerned with details.
A "wretch" is a miserable or despicable person.
The Sun is "saucy" or "cheeky" because he is always trying to peep into bedrooms to see
what is happening there.
He is "pendantic" because he always rises at precisely the same time. The lovers would like to
spend much more time in bed but, precisely at a certain time, the sun interferes and tells them it's time
to get up.
The Sun is a "wretch" because he is a miserable being for interfering with the lovers' love-making.
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- Why should the apprentices be "sour prentices"? (2)
[Need help?]
The apprentices in the poet's day were forced to work very hard indeed, and to labour for long hours.
However, it was not work that they liked doing but they nevertheless did it because they needed the money
which was not much. They therefore worked grudgingly.
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- Who are the "court-huntsmen", and why has the upper-case been used for the
"King"? (4)
[Need help?]
The "court-huntsmen" are the hunters who go out to ride in the company of the king. They must
be up early and ready to ride just as soon as the king is ready.
Can you see the pun here? These men are also people who court or hunt favours of the king. They are
"court huntsmen".
The poet is referring to a specific king, namely King James who was monarch at the time of writing this
poem. That, therefore, is the reason for the upper-case.
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"Love, all alike, no season knows, nor clime,
Nor hours, days, months, which are the rags of time."
- What message is contained in these two lines? (4)
[Need help?]
No matter where one goes in the world -- no matter what the season, what the climate, what the time
--
love is the same and lovers behave in exactly the same way: i.e. they are constantly wanting to make
love.
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- Why are the hours, days and months described as being "the rags of time"? (2)
[Need help?]
Hours, days and months are simply little divisions of time, just scraps or rags of time.
If, on the other hand, one were to personify time into "Old Man Time", then one could say that the
hours, days and months are the clothing that Time wears, his tatty vestments.
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