Song: Go and Catch a Falling Star (1633) – John Donne

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 hair on thee,

Thou, when thou return’st, wilt tell me

All strange wonders that befell thee,

And swear

Nowhere

Lives a woman true, and fair.

If thou find’st one, let me know,

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.

 

Main Characteristics of Metaphysical Poetry

1. Metaphysical conceits – far fetched and ingenious extended comparisons which are original and logical

2. Metaphysical wit – made of heterogeneous ideas
that are yoked together by violence

3. Technique of argument – usually there is an argument with the poet’s lover, God, or himself

4. Use of learning, intellect, and philosophy – play with words and use new knowledge gained from Geography, Medicine, Astronomy, Chemistry, Physics and Alchemy

5. Poems are based on poet’s personal experiences or moments in life –lyrical

6. Use of colloquial everyday language

7. Abrupt dramatic endings

8. Rugged metre to convey their attitudes and purpose

9. Conventional themes handled unconventionally – love with its physical/sexual side, the union of souls, and religious devotion.

10. Metaphors created from all spheres of life and learning

11. Some psychological analysis

12. Bold and innovative in the selection of subject matter and in the use of new knowledge and learning  

Thinking critically:

• To whom is this speaker talking? What do you think has occasioned the writing of this poem?
• In the second stanza, what does the speaker say his listener will discover about a woman both “true and fair”?
• In the last stanza, what does the speaker say he will not do? Why?
• What hyperbole or exaggeration does the speaker use to make his point?
• How would you describe the speaker’s tone? List at least three words that reveal his attitude. Do you think he is being serious?
• In terms of their themes, “Sonnet 141” by William Shakespeare and “Song” by Donne, which poet has put the theme across best according to your view? Illustrate your answer with examples from the text.
• It is said that “Song” is a hyperbolic expression of the moral depravity of women. What is your view on this statement?
• Discuss with close reference to the “Song” the extent to which it sports the characteristics of a Metaphysical poetry.

[1] Go, Tell, Teach – use of imperatives imply strong displeasure

[2] A plant whose forked root said to resemble a human torso and legs

[3] Second and third stanza starts with an if clause signaling disbelief/ impossibility

[4] A falling star is a bright beautiful thing that is reduced to ashes in the end. People make wishes when they see one. Donne, influenced by the increasing focus on the sciences, is trying to show that trying to catch an honest beautiful woman is like trying to catch a meteorite – both attempts would be disillusioning as well as disastrous.

[5] A plant used in witchcraft. It is also used as an aphrodisiac, a cathartic, a poison, and a narcotic. Making a baby with the aid of a mandrake root is an unnatural act – a beautiful woman who is faithful is also unnatural; beautiful women are by nature fickle – according to the voice. However, in this context, making a baby is impossible as the poet is asking a man to become pregnant by a male plant.   

[6] Singing of the mermaids, or more correctly the sirens, lure unsuspecting sailors to their doom according to Homer in The Odyssey. Similarly, women, according to the voice, lure men to their destruction.