JohnDonneandJohneMiltonpre-reading.docVIP

John Donne Song: Go and catch a falling star BY? HYPERLINK /bio/john-donne JOHN DONNE Go and catch a falling star, ??? Get with child a mandrake root, Tell me where all past years are, ??? Or who cleft the devils foot, Teach me to hear mermaids singing, Or to keep off envys stinging, ????????????And find ????????????What wind Serves to advance an honest mind. If thou beest born to strange sights, ??? Things invisible to see, Ride ten thousand days and nights, ??? Till age snow white hairs on thee, Thou, when thou returnst, wilt tell me, All strange wonders that befell thee, ????????????And swear, ????????????No where Lives a woman true, and fair. If thou findst 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. Notes: mandrake n. a plant of southern Europe and North Africa having purple flowers, yellow fruits and a forked root formerly thought to have magical powers mermaid n. In fairy tales and legends, a mermaid is a woman with a fishs tail instead of legs, who lives in the sea. Analyze the metrical form 1. How many lines and stanzas are in the poem? 2. What is the main rhythm, and how about the variation? 3. What is the rhyming scheme? 4. What effect do the two monometer iambic lines give? (“and find, What wind” “and swear, No where”) Themes and symbols In the first stanza, the speaker begins with a series of impossible orders to an unseen actor, what are the orders? What does the speaker want to know in the second stanza? In the last stanza, is there a woman true and honest in the world according to the speaker? How much imageries are in the poem? A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning 别离辞，莫悲伤 As virtuous men pass mildly away， ??? And whisper to their souls to go， ??? Whilst some of their sad friends do say， The breath goes now， and