Go and catch a falling star by John Donne


‘Song: Go and catch a falling star’ by John Donne tells of a speaker’s belief that there are no women in the world who are to him both beautiful and faithful. 

In the first lines of this piece, the speaker begins by giving the reader a number of impossible tasks. These include catching a “falling star” and teaching him how to “hear mermaids singing.” It is not until the second stanza that one comes to realize that Donne is comparing these impossibilities to the locating of a beautiful and faithful woman. He believes that one is just as likely to figure how why the devil’s foot is cleft as find a woman who has both of these traits. 

The speaker goes on to tell the listener that if one were to venture into the strange unknown, they would come across endless wonders, but not a woman who would please him in totality. In the last stanza, he explains how if he thought that such a woman did exist that he’s suffered to find her. He’d go on a pilgrimage and do anything he had to. The speaker does not believe it is really possible though. In fact, he states that one might think they’ve found a woman of his liking but she would eventually turn out to be “False.” 

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