Deconstructive reading of 'The Sun Rising"

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As we all know language is not natural, it is a medium to convey our feelings. But nowadays it has become a heavily cultural tool. We all are in the illusion that language is a natural tool, but It is also cannot be denied that it's part of our life which can't be separated. But we can find binaries within the language as Jaques Derrida deconstructs the very idea of language. There are so many possible reasons or interpretations behind whatever we hear or speak. The language has the command 

As a student we are happy when we learn something, some theories given by philosophers. But when the time comes to apply those theories we find difficulties. We deny to apply those theories. But it is useless if we do not use it and don't apply it. Here I'm applying Derrida's theory of Deconstruction. Aa a task given By Prof. Dilip Barad, HOD of English Department, Bhavnagar. For further information click here. 

Deconstructive reading of 'The Sun Rising' by John Donne




'The Sun Rising' is one of the most charming and successful metaphysical love poems by John Donne. As it is a love poem, here the word love closes the door to any other interpretation. We can not see beyond this emotion. But there are binaries in this poem which we can find through the help of Derridian theory. 

As the title suggests the rising of the sun, which indicates something about nature. Whenever we go through any poems first we look at the title and here the title is very simple and undoubted. So let's read the poem. 

Busy old fool, unruly sun,
               Why dost thou thus,
Through windows, and through curtains call on us?
Must to thy motions lovers' seasons run?

When we read these above lines we find that the speaker is disturbed by the sun and for him his beloved is more important than any other. It clearly decanters nature. The speaker very badly taunts the sun, as nature is nothing for them and without it they can survive. They want just love, people who are in love would definitely enjoy this poem, and we think love is in the center of the poem. 


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;


Here we can see that not nature and not love but his beloved is in the center of the poem. She is everything for him. The beams of sun are nothing in front of his beloved. He compared his beloved with treasures of India, with the whole world and claimed that his beloved is everything. But he also says that she is all the states or countries and he is the king of those countries. Now here we can see the speaker is in the center. Celebration self, self centeredness. And at the end of this poem we can find he compared the sun with human beings, which decentered nature and centered lovers. 

Thine age asks ease, and since thy duties be
         To warm the world, that's done in warming us.
Shine here to us, and thou art everywhere;
This bed thy center is, these walls, thy sphere.

Here he says to shine the world is the duty of the Sun and the bed and the room is it's center. He tried to center nature but he decentered it. 



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