The idea of love being stronger and older than anything else in this world is not a Renaissance-era idea, or even a post-1st century A.D. idea. In Greek mythology, Aphrodite, the goddess of love, is said to be the eldest of the gods and, unlike the rest of the Olympians, a daughter of Ouranous – the literal Earth – making her the most powerful of the gods. In Roman mythology, Cupid, the god of love, was feared on the same level as the god of death. The Romans believed if Cupid disliked you, he could curse you with a disastrous love and ruin your life. There are a dozen other examples – however, all of this goes to show that the idea of love being a powerful force in the universe was not a new one to 17th century poets. 

John Donne, born in 1572 and a prominent member of the metaphysical poets during the late 16th-early 17th centuries, wrote numerous pieces of poetry about the power of love versus faith and nature. In his own life, he himself was forced to choose between faith and love. In the 1590s, Donne converted to the Church of England, a change that was reflected in the increasingly religious contemplations in his poetry at the time. However, in 1601, his engagement to Ann More, the seventeen-year-old niece of his boss, led to his estrangement from both the church and society. It wasn’t until about 30 years later that Donne managed to work himself into the good graces of King James I and was accepted back into the church and even ordained as a court preacher.

Throughout the many major changes in his life, Donne’s poetry reflected his beliefs and often the struggles he was facing at the time. His 1633 poem ‘The Sun Rising’ was written after he had returned to the good graces of the church, though it shows his longing for love even over a decade after he had lost his beloved wife. In the poem, he discusses how the strength of his love is the most important thing in the world. He spends the poem talking to the sun, trying to convince it to shine somewhere else so he can spend more time in bed with his love. He begins the poem by saying 

“Busy old fool, unruly sun,

Why dost thou thus

Through windows and through curtains call on us?

Must to thy motions lovers’ seasons run?” (lines 1-4) 

In a world where the church and God were believed to be the center of everything, Donne makes an interesting choice in claiming differently – he says at the end of the poem, “Shine here to us, and thou art everywhere; / This bed they center is, these walls they sphere.” (29-30) Instead of calling the church the center of the universe, he claims he and his love are so powerful that when they are together, they become the center of the universe instead. It’s interesting to think how this idea would have been viewed in the church, especially coming from one of their preachers, and considering the fact that one of their most notable astronomers, a certain Galileo Galilei would be arrested just a decade later for suggesting the idea of a heliocentric planetary model. If the church couldn’t wrap their heads around the idea of the sun being the center of the universe instead of the earth, it’s interesting to consider how they would have reacted to two people being the center of the universe.

Unlike many other poets of Donne’s time, there are no lewd or crude suggestions throughout the poem. He shows a tremendous amount of respect to his love compared to many of the other poets of the time, including notable writers such as Robert Herrick and Andrew Marvell. He refers to his love as “Th’ Indias of spice and mine’ (17), and “those kings whom thou saw’st yesterday / and thou shalt heat, All here in one bed lay.” (19-20) He talks about how he doesn’t even want to blink for fear of missing any time looking at her.

“Thy beams , so revered 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.” (11-14)

If one assumes the love he is talking about in this poem is his late wife, Ann More, it becomes clear why he gave up his life, faith, and a promising career to marry her. Even though his life worked out in the end, there was no way for him to know that at the time. While he was married to Ann, they lived in extreme poverty, even leading him to write, but not publish, Biathanatos, a defense of suicide. While his life with Ann may not have been what either of them imagined, if ‘The Sun Rising’ is any accurate representation of their love, it is proof of why he gave up everything for her in the first place.

Oftentimes in poetry, nature and religion go hand in hand – nature is God’s creation, along with everything in it, so by defying nature (depending on the writer), it could become symbolic of defying the church and/or God himself. In ‘The Sun Rising’, Donne doesn’t straight-out defy nature – he was a man of God at that point in his life, after all. However, he does ask the sun to hold off for just a little bit longer so he can spend more time with his love, demonstrating the strength of love and its ability to overcome the power of nature, even if just for a little while.