Historical Context and John Donne (The Sunne Rising)

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Out staff of freelance writers includes over 120 experts proficient in Historical Context and John Donne (The Sunne Rising), therefore you can rest assured that your assignment will be handled by only top rated specialists. Order your Historical Context and John Donne (The Sunne Rising) paper at affordable prices with cheap essay writing service! There is no such thing as a neutral writer, or for that matter, a neutral poet; a writer always imparts his or her own beliefs and views into their material. These views and beliefs are all generated by the writer's cultural and biographical context, and so an understanding of the writer's history, and knowledge of their time period in history, is of extreme value with regards to understanding their works. Indeed, it is also vital when attempting to determine the precise meaning or feeling that they were trying to convey. John Donne's poetry is no exception, and knowledge of his biographical and cultural context enhances our understanding of his poem, The Sunne Rising. Without it of course, generating accurate meaning would be extremely difficult.

Sixteenth Century England was a time of great change; the Church was reforming, England was expanding its borders and territories to different, far, and new parts of the world, and an interest in the classical literature and learning of ancient Greece and Rome resulted in a period of great discovery.

The Renaissance, which began towards the end of the 16th Century, was the title given to this period of discovery; when scientific method and understanding were changing and there was "a shift in emphasis from the acceptance of received knowledge to observation and analysis, whether of the movements of the planets or the circulation of the blood." The speaker investigates this Copernican idea of the sun as centre of the universe in his poem as we see in the first and third stanzas. We see the amazing power that the sun has; it controls the motions of all, whether they be lovers, workers or Kings "Must to thy motions lovers seasons run? … Goe tell Court- huntsmen, that the King will ride, Call Countrey ants to harvest offices." The speaker then goes on to inform us that love is more important than the sun however; that love is a unifying force, both on earth and elsewhere "Love, all alike, no season knows, nor clyme, nor houres, dayes, months, which are the rags of time." The speaker suggests here that love transcends the normal and, unlike the sun, it is not a 'slave' to time. The speaker then argues that, as love is more important than the sun, perhaps the bedroom and bedspace, the place of love, is really the centre; that this is where the sun should really shine "Shine here to us, and thou art everywhere; This bed thy centre is, these walls, thy spheare." Here, similar to the Catholic Church, Donne plays with and probes the Copernican idea of the Sun-centred universe. Unlike the Church however, Donne does not completely deny this idea, instead he simply suggests that perhaps things should be different.

The Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries were busy times for the English, especially with regards to colonial expansion. An understanding of this cultural period can enhance the readers understanding of the third stanza. This was a period in history where men were expected to venture out into the unknown, to conquer, overpower, to make a name for themselves. The speaker suggests this kind of journey is fraught however, that the honour earned is fake, that the wealth is worthless. "All honor's mimique; All wealth alchimie." He suggests however that the journey should not be out of the country, or indeed out at all. On the contrary it should be directed inwards, towards love and the female lover. The speaker uses a conceit, relating the woman to the State, and the man to a Prince "She is all States and all Princes, I." When correlated like this, it can be seen that she is the world and that he is the overpowering, the controller. Thus, by journeying in, the man is still fulfilling his colonial role as 'ruler.'

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When seen like this however, it suggests that women are merely 'lands' that men must conquer and control. Knowledge of Sixteenth Century power relationships can therefore further enhance our understanding of the poem. Women needed to be controlled and protected by a man, and so the poem suggests therefore that although finding power in the state can be fraught, a man can get all the power he needs over a woman in bed.

This has links with Donne's Biographical context also. After marrying and 'finding his love', Donne loses his job and position with Sir Thomas Egerton. This poem may therefore simply be an attempt to convince himself that although he has lost his power in the state, he has all the power he needs in love and marriage.

Knowledge of Donnes biographical history also enhances our understanding of meanings we take from the poem. 'The Poetry of John Donne' claims that; "The Sunne Rising may be less a celebration of the miracle of love than a poem which betrays deep disappointment." The poem undoubtedly raises some rather extravagant ideas. The speaker claims superiority over Kings as we see in the first stanza. The King is controlled by the sun, yet the speaker/lover is not. He is above this and so claims superiority. The speaker also claims to possess someone worth more than even the riches of the East and West Indies combined. We see this when he claims; "Tomorrow late, tell mee, Whether both the India's spice and Myne, Be where thou leftst them, or lie here with mee." At the time of writing the poem, Donne was relatively poor and 'The Poetry of John Donne' suggests that Anne Donne "was perhaps no very remarkable person." Perhaps then The Sunne Rising is an exaggeration; something that Donne dreamed of or fantasised to compensate for his setback and poverty stricken state.

Without this knowledge of Donne's biographical context our understanding of this poem would be more superficial and less complete.

Knowledge of John Donne's cultural and biographical context clearly enhances our understanding of his poetry, in particular his poem The Sunne Rising. Trying to read Donne's poetry from a 1st century perspective with little or no knowledge of the cultural context could have resulted in confusion and misinterpretation. Not only is the style of poetry bewildering at first, the allusions throughout, relating to colonialism, the renaissance and even "the India's", could have been misunderstood. The significance of these particular cues, although widely understood at the time, would be unknown to contemporary readers. Furthermore, knowledge of Donne's biographical context also enhances our interpretation of the poem, thus a knowledge of Donne's cultural and biographical context is of utmost value if we are to fully understand his poetry. Please note that this sample paper on Historical Context and John Donne (The Sunne Rising) is for your review only. In order to eliminate any of the plagiarism issues, it is highly recommended that you do not use it for you own writing purposes. In case you experience difficulties with writing a well structured and accurately composed paper on Historical Context and John Donne (The Sunne Rising), we are here to assist you. Your cheap research papers on Historical Context and John Donne (The Sunne Rising) will be written from scratch, so you do not have to worry about its originality.

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