In many of the metaphysical poems in John Donne's literary canon, the poet assumes a voice that, as John Carey describes, "...communicates through the dictatorial attitudes [he] adopts, through the incessant argumentation of his mannerisms and through manipulation. and violent combination of objects from a world felt in its imagery. Carey characterizes this tone as demonstrating Donne's fascination with power as a central means of thought-based expression. In "The Sun Rising" and "Death Be Not Proud" ("Holy Sonnet philosophical, astrological, and religious principles and values ​​to which most individuals throughout the history of human civilization have subscribed. Specifically, Donne resists the idea that the sun is the most powerful and central entity in our cosmological framework, and that death is "powerful and terrible" ("Holy Sonnet crucial in understanding the purpose of life. He does this by personifying "the sun" and "death", subjugating each of them to human status and thus undermining the reader's belief in the inherent power of each entity. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay Nevertheless, it is not just Donne's use of seemingly outlandish, exaggerated, and highly contested claims that gives his poetic works their intrinsic notoriety. On the contrary, as Clements argues in his critical analysis, Donne's unique ability to successfully employ assertive and manipulative arguments, and to subvert commonly held conceptions, makes his claims seemingly ridiculous "not only figuratively, but literally true." », to quote Sir Thomas Brown (239). . Donne's technique is one of the most tangible elements that has led many critics to conclude that Donne's tone manifests an obsession with power. Furthermore, citing Brian Vickers, Clements points out that "[Donne's] hyperbole 'affirms the incredible in order to arrive at the credible'" (239). It is this “rhetoric of hyperbole” (239) that, in concert with Donne's aggressive, thought-based power of persuasion, qualifies the feeling and true essence of his poetry. This adds layers of emotional complexity to otherwise simple rationalizations of the poet's somewhat simplistic, if sometimes controversial, lyrical verses. In “The Sun Rising,” Donne uses assertive argument, hyperbolic imagery, and a persuasive tone to elevate the status of his lover from that of the divine. Simultaneously, it strives to downplay and/or question any claims of substantial importance to which the sun is typically attributed. In the first stanza, Donne resorts to name-calling, criticizing the sun as "busy", "old", "foolish", "undisciplined", "impertinent" and "pedantic". Thus, he tries to characterize the rising sun, which calls him and his lover to bed, "through the windows and through the curtains", as petty and irritating. He maintains that true love (such as that which he shares with his lover) contrasts the pseudo-love of "seasonal" lovers and that of the sun itself, which rises and sets according to certain systematic constraints "...all the same , No. the season knows neither the climate, nor the hours, the days, the months which are the rags of time" ("The Sun Rising"). Thus, while most entities under (and including) the sun are subject to physical, geographical, spatial limitations,temporal, quantitative and/or practical, he affirms that true love is extra-worldly in this respect. It is incomprehensible, immeasurable, limitless and boundless, even compared to the enormity and force of the sun, which no longer appears so impressive when juxtaposed with the power of love. In the second stanza, Donne questions the power of the sun's rays, arguing that "I could eclipse and darken them with a wink / But that I would not lose sight of her so long;" (“The Rising Sun”). So he could easily escape the sun's rays by closing his eyes, but so simply to see his lover in every waking moment he chose not to. Moreover, Donne asks the sun to: Look, and tomorrow late, tell me if the Spice Indies and mine are where you left them, or if you sleep here with me. er yesterday, And you will hear, all here in one bed ("The Sun Rising"). If the eyes of his lovers have not blinded the sun by tomorrow, a reversal of the natural threat from the sun's harmful properties, Donne asks the sun to turn to the East Indies, source of spices, and the West Indies, source precious metals. He also asks him to see the kings he shined on yesterday. Donne claims that all of this cannot be found anywhere else. than in bed with his lover: In the third stanza, he writes that "She is all the States, and all the princes me, / Nothing else is" ("The Rising Sun"). Clements provides insight into the significance and power of these bold statements by explaining that Donne's love is "infinitely delicious... infinitely high... infinitely great in all extremes" (239) and has the effect of bringing the poet to a provincial mentality, which effectively works "...to despatialize the world, to reduce the macrocosm to the microcosm, the latter redeemed being in any case of greater value and greater importance than the fallen macrocosm" ( 239). These assertions are further illustrated by Donne's assertion in the final stanza that "You, sun, are half as happy as we" ("The Rising Sun"), thus establishing a simple proportional relationship between him and his lover and the sun personified. The simile quantifies the inconceivable amount of love and contentment the couple possesses as twice that of the sun. That said, Donne's final statement is even more provocative. He states that "To warm the world is to warm us. / Shine here for us, and you are everywhere; / This bed is your center, these walls are your sphere" ("The Rising Sun"). Thus, Donne confidently and logically (if somewhat crudely) asserts that the sun is no longer the most sublime element of the cosmos, but rather assumes a secondary role to the bedroom in which Donne and his lover consummate their feelings for each other. His room, not the sun, is the most illustrious and important place in the natural or civilized world. This poem, which is constructed in three ten-line stanzas, maintains the strict ABBACDCDEE rhyme scheme of two rhyming quatrains as reverse rhyme patterns followed by a couplet rhyming the end of the section throughout the first two stanzas. In the third stanza, this same rhyme scheme is repeated, but it is observed much looser, allowing for less discrete rhymes (i.e. I to alchemy, is to that, everywhere to sphere, etc.) to persist. Perhaps through this liberation from the schematic constraints of lyrical rhymes, in concert with his final argument, Donne both literally and symbolically deconstructs readers' preconceived assumptions regarding the hegemony of the sun over all else. It is these linguistic, syntactic considerations,grammatical, rhythmic, and image-based that I hope I have highlighted, which give "The Sun Rising" a definitive claim to inclusion in the realm of Donne's archetypically power-obsessed metaphysical canon. In "Death Be Not Proud" ("Holy Sonnet X"), Donne's most famous and most scrutinized piece, the poet assumes a controversial ideology at odds with mainstream doctrine. In the brief duration of a standard sixteen-line sonnet with a regular Petrarchan ABBACDCDEE rhyme scheme and an iambic pentametric metrical construction, Donne forcefully asserts his belief that death is relatively unimportant in the grand scheme of human existence. he soul through a carefully constructed argument, hyperbolic imagery, and a persuasive tone characteristic of his noted power-infused metaphysical lyrical verses. “Holy Sonnet X” begins with the poet playfully and knowingly mocking the central object of examination. The poem opens with "Death be not proud, though some have called thee / Mighty and fearsome, for thou art not", telling death personified that it should not show pride in its ability to arouse fear and terror. Donne's argument moves logically toward reasons for the relative insignificance of death, as he argues that "For those whom you think to overthrow / Do not die, poor death, and you cannot yet kill me ("Saint Sonnet X "), suggesting that someone's soul cannot be ended simply with the act of dying, but conversely, after the death of the body, the soul assumes a different status, and in many cases, high. The poet then declares: From rest and sleep, which are but your images, much more pleasure from you then must flow, and soon our best men will depart with you, rest of their bones and; deliverance of the soul ("Holy Sonnet So, he implies, death must bring similar consolation. Additionally, in an attempt to justify why good people die young, a microcosm of the existential dilemma of why bad things happen to good people, Donne makes it clear that the divine offers good people eternal relief from pain and allows them to achieve salvation with the gift of an early death. Donne refers to the spiritual salvation one obtains in death as “deliverance of the soul.” An ironic play on words, the phrase evokes images of childbirth, symbolizing the rebirth of the soul in harmony with its earthly disappearance. Donne then goes on to characterize the person's tragic fate of death. , that "You are the slave of fate, of chance, of kings and desperate men, / And you dwell with poison, war and disease;" ("Saint Sonnet The poet then asks rhetorically: “…the poppy or the charms can make us sleep as well [as death], / And better than death.” your shot; why are you swelling then? ("Holy Sonnet Finally, in a concluding verse: draws parallels with the punchline of “The Sun Rising,” in which Donne advises the rising sun to “Shine here for us, and you are everywhere; / This bed is your center, these walls are your sphere”, the poet threatens the personified form of death by asserting that “A short sleep past, we wake.