Go and catch a falling star,
Get with child a mandrake root,
Tell me where all past years are,
Or who cleft the devil's foot,
Teach me to hear mermaids singing,
Or to keep off envy's stinging,
And find
What wind
Serves to advance an honest mind.
If thou be'st born to strange sights,
Things invisible to see,
Ride ten thousand days and nights,
Till age snow white hairs on thee,
Thou, when thou return'st, wilt tell me,
All strange wonders that befell thee,
And swear,
No where
Lives a woman true and fair.
Such a pilgrimage were sweet;
Yet do not, I would not go,
Though at next door we might meet,
Though she were true, when you met her,
And last, till you write your letter,
Yet she
Will be
False, ere I come, to two, or three.
In my opinion i think that its talking about how a relationship iis really bad but can can feel good. At the end i started realizing Donne is comparing love to a falling star because there is no such thing. it was really powerful when he said "when you met her,And last, till you write your letter,Yet she Will be False" it made think that he doesnt believe in love and doesnt want think about all that stuff that has to do with love. John Donne wants to open peoples eyes by letting them know that people shouldnt suffer for a love that was never real.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, the overall message is that the author doesn’t believe in his love. In the first stanza, he keep writing something that are impossible: go and catch a falling star, get with child a mandrake root, cleft the devil’s foot, hear mermaids singing, keep off envy’s stinging. All those things are such mythical. The speaker tells his love to do things that are impossible, that might because he doesn’t trust his lover, he wants her to prove her love to him by doing something impossible. In the last stanza, the author said “Though at next door we might meet, though she were true, when you met her, and last, till you write your letter, yet she will be false, ere I come, to two, or three” what he meant is that when you first meet a woman that you will fall in love with, but be careful, otherwise the love will become apart, it might just two of you break up there is one more person get involve between you and her and end it up to three of you guys.
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ReplyDeleteJohn Donne uses an “ababccddd” rhyme scheme in each stanza. He seems to be speaking to another man.
ReplyDelete"No where Lives a woman true and fair." This is what John Donne is saying. Donne believes that looking for the perfect woman is like if one were to “go and catch a falling star,” or any of the examples listed in the first stanza. It’s impossible. This idea of impossibility continues in the second stanza where he says that one would not find the perfect woman even if he were to “Ride ten thousand days and nights, Till age snow white hairs o¬n thee.” He goes on to say in the third Stanza that if one were to find a woman, she would be unfaithful.
John Donne does not think too highly of women…
This poem is definitely not a very good interpretation of women. Depicting them as unloyal and a woman that is, is just a myth. It is extremely harsh when he challenges the reader to look for the perfect women and when they find her once they leave and comeback she will have been with two to three men already.
ReplyDeleteI found it funny, i thought when reading it if a women read this they would probably be asking the same questions about men. Men are just as perfect or imperfect as women. So i guess the author is totally ignorant to the infidelity of men.
From my prospective, I believe the author is addressing how maturity is achieved through experiences or teachings from others. The author uses phrases like ‘Tell me” or “Teach me” which suggest the speaker is addressing an older person [Get with child a mandrake root] and aspires to learn from him/her. The speaker seems to be of young age in that the things he wants to learn are those of a young child. He wants to learn how to hear a “mermaids singing” or how to “off envy’s stinging”
ReplyDeleteAlso, the tone of the poem changes in the second stanza. The speaker seems to have gained maturity and is now retelling the story of a person who was raised in a home where the parent’s were not his/hers. However, the speaker has learned how to love and care for that “woman” that nurture him/her.
“Go and Catch a Falling Star” refers to the individuals who get lost in the world and have had no one to teach them and guide them. The speaker addresses the reader in the last stanza and encourages them to catch a falling star and follow his example. It’s never to late for a falling star or a fallen person to find a path to a better life.
I believe the overall message of the poem is to help one another and be kind. Humanity would reach a point of people when humans are willing to reach for an extended hand and leave “envy” behind.