Song: Go and Catch a Falling Star

by John Donne

　　

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Donne's metaphysical poem seems like a light-hearted witty joke aimed at women, but there are spiritual metaphors which substantiate Donne's message on a deeper level. His meter creates dramatic pauses mid-stanza, which has an interesting effect. The poem's title is simple, "Song" but Donne included its first line to differentiate it.

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John Reinhard Weguelin, The Mermaid of Zennor, 1849

　　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.

　　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.

　　

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Song: Go and Catch a Falling Star was featured as TheShort Story of the Day on Tue, Sep 29, 2020

　　

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Featured in our selection of Poetry for Students.

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