Go and Catch a Falling Star by John Donne
A poem's speaker sets a series of impossible tasks: catching a falling star, getting a mandrake root with child, telling where all past years have gone, learning who cleft the devil's foot, hearing mermaids sing, keeping envy's stinging at bay, and finding what wind serves to advance an honest mind. He tells his listener that if he is born to strange sights and things invisible to the ordinary eye, he should ride ten thousand days and nights until age turns his hair white; when he returns he will be able to tell of all the strange wonders that befell him, yet he will swear that nowhere lives a woman true and fair. The speaker then addresses this listener directly: if he should find such a woman, he asks to be told, calling such a pilgrimage sweet. But he immediately retracts the wish, saying he would not go to meet her even if she lived next door, for though she was true when the listener met her, and remained true until he wrote his letter about her, she would become false before the speaker could arrive, betraying him with two or three others.
By John Donne · First published 1633 · Genre: Metaphysical Poetry, Lyric Poetry, Satirical Poetry · 248 words
First lines
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, / Nowhere / Lives a woman true and fair.
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Go and Catch a Falling Star is listed on Textopian as a poem by John Donne, dated 1633 CE.
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- Work type: Poem
- Author: John Donne
- Date: 1633 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Metaphysical Poetry, Lyric Poetry, Satirical Poetry, Love Poetry, Philosophical Poetry
- Length: 248 words
- Structure: 1 section, 3 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)
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- Work identity for Go and Catch a Falling Star by John Donne
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Genres
- Metaphysical Poetry — The poem exemplifies the metaphysical tradition through elaborate conceits, using impossible tasks as metaphors for philosophical inquiry, characterized by wit, paradox, and complex intellectual imagery central to Donne's work.
- Lyric Poetry — The poem presents personal reflection and introspection through a first-person voice addressing a specific 'thou,' expressing meditative thought characteristic of lyric verse.
- Satirical Poetry — The work employs irony and satire to critique romantic ideals and deconstruct the concept of feminine fidelity, particularly through the cynical dismissal in the final stanza.
- Love Poetry — The poem fundamentally engages with themes of romantic love, fidelity, and relationships, though from a cynical perspective that challenges conventional romantic ideals.
Tags
metaphysical-poetry · cynical · love-poetry · irony · wit · impossible-tasks · infidelity · skepticism · metaphor · seventeenth-century · seduction · fidelity