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What's the meaning of "both th'Indias of spice and mine" in the following poem?
What special meaning does "th'Indias" imply here? Does it relate with the country India?
The Sun Rising by John Donne
Thy beams, so reverend 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,
If her eyes have not blinded thine,
Look, and tomorrow late, tell me,
Whether both th'Indias of spice and mine
Be where thou leftst them, or lie here with me.
Ask for those kings whom thou saw'st yesterday,
And thou shalt hear, All here in one bed lay.Thanks Richard for answer. So, in my understanding of Richard's explanation, the India of spice must be the East India. But the poet also mentioned another one, the India of mine. Whether this one is referring to his lover?
2009年11月25日 02:44
回答 · 3
2
Hi, Donne's poem is about a man who is complaining about the sun waking him up. He chides the sun to chase late school boys etc. He then tells the sun that he is more superior than the sun because he can eclipse the sun but he would not do that because he cant bear losing sight of his lover.
He compares his lover to the spices of India and the Mines (gold). He tells the sun that all the spices of India and all the Mines are sleeping next to him. He goes on to talk a bit about domination. He then concludes by tell the sun that now this is its world, universe (the room). In the end we get the feeling that the lovers like the sun and its warmth.
2009年11月26日
1
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/learning/print.html?id=173385 agrees with Jura, indicating that Donne is referring to the East Indies for spices and the West Indies for gold. In a 1623 letter to Sir Robert Ker, Donne wrote: “Your way into Spain was Eastward, and that is the way to the land of Perfumes and Spices; their way hither is Westward, and that is the way to the land of Gold, and of Mynes.” [John Donne: Selected Prose. Edited by Helen Gardner and Timothy Healy, p. 155]
But the poem says "She is all states," implying that the lover is the world. So, I could see it interpreted the other way, where there is a spice India, and my India, and they're both in bed. Donne is known for puns - maybe he sought a double meaning, with the word "mine" meaning both the source of gold and she who belongs to me.
This is poetry, not physics. Pick the one you like!
2009年11月26日
1
The poet is claiming that his lover encompasses all the world with its empires, its treasures, and all its beauty. Later, the poem says, "She is all states, and all princes...Nothing else is"
India, in the time of Donne (1500-1600s), was a place of exotic treasure from the spice trade. So he is referring to the world's India as well as the "India" he has in the bed beside him, and imagining them to be one and the same.
He's telling the sun to have a look, provided the brilliance of his lovers eyes have not blinded the sun.
2009年11月25日
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