Sunday, March 31, 2013

Cultural Entry - "The Sun Rising"


“Late schoolboys, and sour prentices, Go tell court-huntsmen that the king will ride, Call country ants to harvest offices” (648)

My guess: I think that my lack of understanding of this passage is because it is a mixture of cultural phrases that I am not familiar with as well as symbolism. The poem is about love, so I am guessing that the author is professing his love throughout the poem. I think that the “schoolboy”, the “prentices”, the “court-huntsmen” and the “country ants” that the speaker is talking about are representative of all different kinds of people from the time period. He is professing his love when he says “go tell” and “call” all the different people; he wants everyone to know the love he has for someone.

Research: “'Prentices' are apprentices, who (like today's sullen teens) oversleep; "motions" are regular changes, such as sunset or sunrise, spring or fall. Donne and Anne (we might as well call her Anne) believe it's more important to be in love than to be on time: they won't let the hour, or the month, or even their relative ages, tell them what to do”

Explanation: With the research above and other information that I found I discovered that the true meaning of the passage is the speaker criticizing all those who are ruled by the hours of the day. The speaker is saying that love is not dependent on time or duty. Before I thought that the speaker was professing his love to all the different kinds of people, but really he is saying that the love he feels is not restricted like the duties of all those people.  

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