Can you help me with one?
The poem is:
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.
Who is the speaker, and what’s the important about the speaker?
What are the figure of the speech in the poem? and explain it.
Basically, I want to understand the poem.
Tagged with: devil • envy • falling star • honest mind • mandrake root • pilgrimage • poem • strange sights • strange wonders • ten thousand • white hairs
Filed under: Mandrake
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I think the sifnifigance of a speaker is irrelevant to the point of this poem, it cleary is about star crossed lovers, the us against the world senario, a great poem though.
i think this poem is saying that live your life to the fullest do what u do best, live in bliss, and if u fined that perfect woman, than she is the one for u, sorry but i don’t know who the speaker is and i dont know what is so important about the person.
Since this sounds like it might be a class assignment, I won’t spell out any answers for you, since that would only deprive you of the learning process and the pleasures of finding personal meaning in poetry. But I can give you some pointers and key guiding questions for this poem by John Donne.
When you are asked "who is the speaker?", you are not necessarily expected to reveal the specific identity of the person speaking the poem. Rather, describe the character or personality of the person speaking (who may be an imagined character speaking in the first person rather than the voice of the poet himself).
The first stanza makes mythological or folkloric references to deeds or conditions that are impossible, like catching a falling star. The mandrake root, which sometimes resembled the form of a human being, ties into old superstitious beliefs that relate to human fertility.
So going on to the second stanza, what does the speaker think of the chances of "thou" (the person whom he addresses) going out into the world to find a woman "true and fair?" in comparison to the impossible myths and superstitions mentioned in the first stanza? Look in particular at the last two lines of the second stanza for your answer.
By the third stanza, the speaker states his belief about what happens even if you do happen to find a virtuous women. Would he go out to meet his virtuous woman? Why or why not? What does he say would happen if you did find a virtuous woman?
So based on how you answered the above questions, what does that say about the speaker’s outlook on life and his personality?
As for figures of speech, look for phrases that can’t be taken literally, but are used for poetic affect. For example, when I say, "John jumped the gun," I’m not really saying John jumped over a semi-automatic pistol or is running a track race where he started before the starter’s pistol, rather I’m saying John started some action prematurely.
You should find a few figures of speech in the first stanza and at least one in the second.