The Sunne Rising — GK Questions with Answers

1. "The Sunne Rising" was written by —
   1. George Herbert
   2. John Donne
   3. Andrew Marvell
   4. Henry Vaughan
   Show answer

   Answer: (B) John Donne

   It is one of Donne’s Songs and Sonnets.

2. A poem spoken by lovers at daybreak is called —
   1. an elegy
   2. an aubade
   3. an ode
   4. a ballad
   Show answer

   Answer: (B) an aubade

   An aubade is a dawn song. Donne’s is unusual because it is angry rather than sad.

3. In the poem, the sun is called a —
   1. busy old fool
   2. golden king
   3. silent watcher
   4. cruel master
   Show answer

   Answer: (A) busy old fool

   The poem opens with the insult "Busy old fool, unruly sun".

4. "Hours, days, months" are described in the poem as —
   1. the gifts of heaven
   2. the rags of time
   3. the wheels of fate
   4. the chains of man
   Show answer

   Answer: (B) the rags of time

   "The rags of time" — torn scraps that have no power over love.

5. "She’s all states, and all princes, I" is an example of —
   1. litotes
   2. hyperbole
   3. irony
   4. onomatopoeia
   Show answer

   Answer: (B) hyperbole

   Deliberate, enormous exaggeration — hyperbole, used to show the size of the feeling.

6. The device of addressing the sun directly throughout the poem is called —
   1. apostrophe
   2. soliloquy
   3. allegory
   4. antithesis
   Show answer

   Answer: (A) apostrophe

   Speaking directly to an absent person or a thing is apostrophe.

7. The final line of the poem is —
   1. Nothing else is
   2. Love, all alike, no season knows nor clime
   3. This bed thy centre is, these walls, thy sphere
   4. Shine here to us, and thou art everywhere
   Show answer

   Answer: (C) This bed thy centre is, these walls, thy sphere

   The poem closes by making the lovers’ room the centre of the universe.

8. Each stanza of "The Sunne Rising" has —
   1. eight lines
   2. ten lines
   3. twelve lines
   4. fourteen lines
   Show answer

   Answer: (B) ten lines

   Three stanzas of ten lines each, rhyming abbacdcdee.

9. Donne tells the sun to go and scold —
   1. kings and queens
   2. late schoolboys and sour apprentices
   3. poets and musicians
   4. soldiers and sailors
   Show answer

   Answer: (B) late schoolboys and sour apprentices

   People who must live by the clock — unlike lovers.

10. The central conceit of the poem is that —
    1. love is a flower
    2. the lovers’ bed is the centre of the universe
    3. the sun is a god
    4. time is a thief
    Show answer

    Answer: (B) the lovers’ bed is the centre of the universe

    The bed becomes the centre and the walls the sphere — the universe redrawn around the lovers.

11. Which is NOT a feature of metaphysical poetry found in this poem?
    1. An abrupt, dramatic opening
    2. A far-fetched conceit
    3. Smooth and regular musical lines
    4. Argument and wit
    Show answer

    Answer: (C) Smooth and regular musical lines

    Metaphysical verse is deliberately rough and speech-like, not smoothly musical.

12. Why does the speaker say he could blot out the sun’s beams but will not?
    1. He fears the dark
    2. He would lose sight of his beloved
    3. The sun would be angry
    4. He is too tired to move
    Show answer

    Answer: (B) He would lose sight of his beloved

    Closing his eyes would eclipse the sun, but he would also stop seeing her.

More chapters in this subject

• Renaissance to Metaphysical20 questions
• The Pilgrim of the Night12 questions
• The Last Ride Together12 questions
• A Song for St. Cecilia’s Day12 questions
• The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock12 questions
• Night of the Scorpion12 questions