The Sun Rising

Study Guide

Literary Devices

Rhyme

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Literary Devices Rhyme

Donne uses an identical rhyme scheme for each of the three stanzas in “The Sun Rising”: ABBACDCEE. Students of the sonnet will immediately recognize familiar elements in this scheme, which integrates distinct rhyme patterns from the Italian and English sonnet forms. Recall that an Italian sonnet consists of an eight-line octave and a six-line sestet. Although there is a lot of variation in the rhyme scheme for the sestet, the octave almost always rhymes as follows: ABBAABBA. Donne incorporates this reversing pattern into the first four lines of each stanza (ABBA). He then follows this “quatrain” with another. This time, however, the rhymes alternate (CDCD) in a way that resembles the quatrains of an English sonnet. Finally, each stanza concludes with a rhyming couplet, which mimics the conclusion of an English sonnet. Donne often hybridized Italian and English forms in his sonnets, so this technique isn’t particular to “The Sun Rising.” What’s remarkable, though, is that “The Sun Rising” isn’t a sonnet! Thus, much like the speaker wishes to rewrite the rules of the world to serve his love, Donne rewrites the rules of the sonnet form to serve his poem.