Go and catch a falling star

(1) Song: Go and catch a falling star

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.

Plot Summary of Go and Catch a Falling Star:

In the first stanza Donne states a number of impossible tasks. He compares finding an honest woman to these tasks. He cleverly states that to find a woman who is honest in love is as difficult as it is to catch ‘a falling star’. The impossible tasks also include conceiving a child with a mandrake plant, gaining full knowledge of the past, solving the mystery of the Devil’s cloven hoof and learning the knack of hearing mermaids singing. In a sarcastic comment Donne says that finding an honest woman is as difficult as living without the pain of envy. Envy is the greed and lust of other people who would secretly long for his woman. He adds sarcastically to the list of impossible tasks the task of finding the wind that brings prosperity to those who are of honest mind. He means that only dishonest people do well, that to have an honest mind is to fail.

In the second stanza the subject matter is an imaginary journey of ten thousand days. Donne imagines a seeker spending a lifetime, until he has grey hairs, looking for an honest woman. Donne believes that despite all the strange sights the traveller will see, he won’t come across an honest woman.

In the third stanza the thought changes to the more positive idea of finding an honest woman. If the traveller finds one, he is to report her immediately. Donne says such a journey, ‘pilgrimage’, would be ‘sweet’. But then Donne changes his mind and says he wouldn’t travel next door to meet her as by the time he arrives even that far she will have slept with two or three other men. He says a woman would only remain honest at most for as long as it takes to write the letter saying you have found her.