Analysis of Song: Go and catch a falling star
John Donne 1572 (London) – 1631 (London)
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.
Scheme | AXAXBBCCC DEDEEEFFF GHGHIIEEE |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1010101 111011 1111111 1110101 1111110 1111110 01 11 11011101 11111111 1010011 1110101 1111111 111011111 11101011 01 11 1010101 11111111 1010001 1111111 1111111 11011110 01111110 11 11 11111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 873 |
Words | 149 |
Sentences | 4 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 9, 9, 9 |
Lines Amount | 27 |
Letters per line (avg) | 22 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 194 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 49 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 26, 2023
- 46 sec read
- 157 Views
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"Song: Go and catch a falling star" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 6 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/22577/song%3A-go-and-catch-a-falling-star>.
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