Angelica Martinez
Professor Bromley
Eng 102

“The Sun Rising” compared to “Last Night”
John Donne’s love poem "The Sun Rising" was written from a male’s point of view in the 17th century and Sharon Olds love poem "Last Night" was written in the 19th century from a female’s point of view. These two love poems have different themes on the topic of love and both are very different in language structure, as "The Sun Rising" is more formal and much more complex to read than "Last Night". Despite these differences in writing style, theme and centuries apart, the poems have great use of vivid imagery and simultaneously both use the tone of unhappiness in the beginning. In the very opening Olds uses the word “Afraid” and Donne starts off with “BUSY old fool, / unruly Sun”. Both authors rotate the tone of unhappiness in the beginning to more content and satisfied towards the end.
When comparing the two love poems, the reader can see how both have great use of imagery. Olds applies a high-pressure imagery throughout the poem, setting up a tension between submissive and aggressive sensations and images. Olds gives us a vivid image of the sexual intercourse as being very hot and animalistic. She describes it as "dragonflies in the sun /100 degrees at noon /the end of their abdomens stuck together". The animalistic and hot kind of imagery, as a reader gave me a mental picture of the sexual activity being wild and just pleasurable without feelings involved just like animals that have intercourse for breeding and not for "love" as human kind. The feeling of sensual desire is described as something “vortex and /twisting out of a chrysalis” which I “eyeshot” was a great choice of words. It describes how vulnerable she was just like a butterfly when comes out its cocoon. It seems as if she was not able to enjoy the sexual encounter due to its intensity and violence. She describes it as "more like killing /death grip / holding to life". “Last Night” is aggressive but somehow feels familiar and not as radical as one might confront given the ecstasy and density of her word-choice and images.
John Donne's love poem like Sharon Olds’ also has a fantastic use of vivid imagery. In his poem we come across allusions to the latest developments in knowledge utilized to express his thoughts. The Sun, he says, will find all Kings of the world “All in one bed lay”. We get the image of him telling the Sun that the speaker is all Kings. The same imagery continues in the concluding stanza of the poem where “She’s all States, /and all Princes I”. He says his mistress is all States. She's basically the world to him. The lover is all Princes. He is the lord of the world. As he says “Princes only play them”. Compared to their love all “honour’s mimick, /all wealth alchemy.” The Sun can shine over only half of the world at one time. The lovers, on the contrary, are the world. It logically follows that the Sun is “half as happy as we”. Accordingly, Donne presents his speaker with language and images that what goes on in his head about his admiration for his lover is primary over the world outside it.
In tone, both "Last Night" and "The Sun Rising" equally have an opening that commences as the speaker being unhappy. And near the ending both are much more satisfy than in the beginning of the poems. Olds’ introduces us to sex but not only does she introduce us to sex she writes about it in a serious manner. In the start of the poem she uses the word “afraid”. It seems as she has a fear of sex. She says “Did I know you? No kiss, / no tenderness” It seems as if the speaker is embarrassed because she didn’t know the person in depth and does not feel love during sex. She seems very unhappy about it. But she feels different about the aftermath and her emotions shift to a more satisfied feeling. “You secured me in your arms till I slept—that was love”. She feels true love in the calm loving moments of just being held by the lover. She was happy when the sexual intercourse was done because she loves the feeling of security. The next morning she felt light, refreshed and cheerful. She says, “We woke in the morning clasped, / fragrant, buoyant, / that was the morning after love”. In the beginning the love making was aggressive and violent. She was more pleased and cheerful at the end of the poem with the simplicity of just being held tightly, rather than having the animalistic kind of love making in the beginning.
Similarly, John Donne has the same tone of unhappiness in the first stanza of “The Sun Rising.” He introduces the poem by speaking to the sun about how unhappy and bothered he was with it, peeking through his window and bothering him and his lover. He says “BUSY old fool, / unruly Sun, / Why dost thou thus, / Through windows, /and through curtains, / call on us? His mood and feelings towards the Sun likewise shift towards the end to more confident and joyful. “Thine age asks ease” The Sun is no longer the “busy old fool” or the “saucy pedantic wretch” of the first verse. It is now an aged fellow in need of ease. He says “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”. The sun’s duty is warming the world. It warms only half of the world at a time. “Let the bed be the center and the walls the sphere” of the sun with this arrangement the aged Sun can do its duties with ease. This last part of the poem reveals the poet’s transition of feelings from unhappy and bothered in the start to joy and confident at the end. At the beginning of the poem the poet asked the sun to go away from there and stop bothering him. In the end he invites the Sun to go round their bed and shine on them.
Commonly both these poets use vivid images and a tone of unhappiness in the opening of their poems that switches to a more joyful ending. One poem is based more on love and the other is based more on sex. Nonetheless both have vivid ideas and images about the topic of love and sex with the way the moods and feelings of both poems twist and turn. As a reader both poems were dynamic as I can relate. It gave me the sense how love tend to shift up and down in moods and feelings. Works Cited
Donne, John. “The Sun Rising.” Handout: Three Aubades and a love poem.
Olds, Sharon. “Last Night.” Handout: Three Aubades and a love poem.