Poetry analysis: Song: Go and Catch a Falling Star, by John Donne – Part 2
Born in London circa 1572 to Roman Catholic parents the Donne’s sought to avoid the attention of the government. Queen Elizabeth I broke the hold of the Roman Catholic Church on England and established the Church of England (Anglican Church). Catholics were persecuted making it difficult to practice the Roman Catholic faith publicly. One of six children, Donne was profoundly affected when his brother was imprisoned for hiding a Catholic priest. After his brother died in prison from the plague, John started to question his own Catholic beliefs and eventually converted to the Anglican Church.
He was very well educated by Jesuit Priests and later studied law. A respected speaker and poet, he was also a lawyer and after being exiled from the English court for secretly marrying the young daughter of his patron, Donne moved to the country where he could support his growing family with his small practice. He later returned to London and was a member of parliament. It was King James I who encouraged him to become an Anglican Priest. These factors all affected his writing.
John Donne was a Jacobean poet from the English Renaissance who relied heavily on the metaphysical style of using metaphor to combine unrelated ideas, or topics and meld them together. One good example of this style is his poem “The Flea” which refers to one of his newborn children.
The song “Go and Catch a Falling Star” by John Donne may well have been written for one of his patron’s of the English Court. It is difficult to point to any specific time that this song was written. Much of Donne’s work was undated and not published until after his death. The song seems to be giving a warning, I believe to men, to watch their women and keep them from temptation. I believe this idea fits with the way this song is put together. In this song, Donne has given a voice to temptation.
The taunt or challenge being issued by Temptation (as if a person rather than something intangible) is that the subject being addressed may very well lose any woman he thinks is faithful and honest.
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.
This first verse does not issue a question as much as a statement of warning. The challenge to catch a falling star implies something
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