Go catch a falling star
- Created by: Freddie Kitchen
- Created on: 19-05-13 13:32
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- Go Catch a Falling Star
- Structure
- ABABCCDDD triple rhyme = strong arguement. Also sounds like a song or nursery rhyme due to relentless rhythm - playful cynicism
- Rhythmical break in lines 7\8 which draws attention to them- almost gives a summary of each stanza 'and swear, nowhere, lives a woman true and fair'
- Enjambment on lines 7 and 8 = a continuous / logical train of thought when summarising arguements
- Imagery
- 'falling star' = impending disaster. 'Mandrake root' screams like a human. unpleasant connotations reflecting women as the subject.
- 'mermaids; associated with song, lure sailors. (Appearance vs reality) Odysseus was tied to mast so survived wrath - shows Donne's heroic ambitions
- Degradation of anything good 'honest mind' belittled. Won't receive 'advancement' by being honest.
- Idea of 'strange sights' and strange wonders' feeling no conveyed as strange. Wonder impossible- hides disappointment
- Mythology / fairytale 'snow white hairs' SNOW WHITE written afterwards - implication for modern audience but different for Donne's.
- Techniques
- 'go' 'get' 'teach' 'tell'. aggressive undertone, gives him control / authority on the matter.
- Cadence of 'true and fair' may suggest such a person does exist? or accepting of male view.
- Oxymoron; invisible to see' - metaphysical quality? Or making a paradox of seeing what is invisible? - TRUE WOMAN = IMPOSSIBLE
- Lists - builds up pace and theme of impossibility-goes with rhythm
- Direct Address - reader feels victimised / pressured into believeing Donnes point of view. 'Wonders that befell thee'
- AO4
- Modern convention of listing impossible features. He mocks this convention by saying a 'woman true and fair' does not exist.
- 'Who cleft the devil's foot?' is a question that fascinated medieval theologists. Would have been proven an unanswerable question by then. Donne mocks old science
- Petrarchan Convention presenting lovers as pilgrims. ('pilgrimage were sweet') - subverts 'i would not go' . Won't go on a pilgrimage of love as there is no woman 'true and fair'
- Structure
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