Upon first reading of John Donne's 'The Sunne Rising' (Leonard 1998:463), it is obvious the poem is a love poem and it appears that the concerns of the poet are to show the speaker's love for his mistress. Showing this them of love was obviously one of the poets concerns but the poem could also be seen as a statement of something greater. At the time Donne wrote this poem it was unconventional. The poem would have been seen as outrageous and very different from any poems written by previous poets. This is because of the nature in which Donne treats the sun. In previous poetry, God, Worldly beings and nature had all been worshipped and respected. All these things were considered rational, powerful and above everything else. Donne tests these theories in his poem by considering love as irrational, something that cannot conform to such a heavenly power as the sun. He is playing with the idea that maybe there is something greater than what men have previously considered, and that this something may be love.
             The poem shows a man's love and affection for his mistress. The masculine speaker of the poem is obviously in love and besotted by his mistress. The poet expresses this love by using a poem that in the first stanza appears to be based on realism and images that the reader can relate to. However, further reading of the poem shows the speaker's romantic tendencies, flattering his lover with the use of metaphors.
             The title 'The Sunne Rising' (Leonard 1998:463) gives the image of a start of a new day, a new beginning. The first line of the poem tends to shatter this image of a beautiful awakening, 'Busie old foole, unruly Sunne,' (Leonard 1998:463) obviously the speaker of the poem is not happy about the dawning of the sun. It is in the next few lines of the first stanza it becomes evident as to why the speaker feels so badly towards the sun, 'Why dost thou th...