The Sun
Captain Obvious here, letting you know that the sun is an important symbol in Donne's "The Sun Rising." We'll give you a minute to process that. Ready?Donne uses the sun in a couple of different wa...
The Great Chain of Being
One medieval idea that carries over into Renaissance art and literature is the Great Chain of Being, the notion that every living thing has a specific rank in the divine scheme of things. Think of...
Cosmology
The 17th century was a pretty interesting time to be alive. They didn't have all this newfangled technology. They didn't have everything all mapped out. They were discovering and figuring things ou...
Sight and Blindness Imagery
Most of the sight imagery is in the second stanza, when Donne talks about the sun's light beams, "reverend and strong." But Donne argues that for all their strength, they can be put out if he simpl...