Explanation: 

“She’s all states, and all princes I, 

Nothing else is. 

Princes do but play us; compared to this,

All honour’s mimic; all wealth alchemy”

Answer: These lines have been taken from Donne’s love lyric “The Sun Rising’. Through these lines, which constitute a beautiful metaphysical conceit, the poet expresses his intense love for his beloved who represents the whole world to him.

In the morning, while the sun is rinsing, the poet and his beloved (his wife) are lying in bed. The poet is not willing to leave the bed because the sun is shining on them through the window. The poet is in a highly romantic and ecstatic mood. As a lover, he thinks, he is superior to the sun, because, in possessing his beloved, he possesses the whole world. He says that his beloved is all the kingdoms of the world, and the poet is all the monarchs of the world. In short, the poet and his beloved symbolise the whole world and its rulers. All honour in the world is a shadow of the true honour that these lovers possess. All the wealth in the world too, is, an imitation of the wealth which the lovers represent.

The poet’s love, as expressed in the lines above, for his wife, Anne Moore amounts to a passion. It is a perfect synthesis of the spiritual and physical love. The use of the conceit here shows Donne’s ability to combine intellect and emotion, wit and passion.