This poem is primarily about the lack of consistency in women. The tone adopted is one of gentle cynicism and mocking. Donne asks the reader to do the impossible, which he compares to finding a constant woman, thus insinuating that such a woman does not exist. The title, “Song,” leads us to expect certain things: a lyrical element in the words and a musical rhythm, which are met by this well-crafted poem. It is also very ambiguous, as it does not hint at what the poem is about. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The stanzas are slightly longer than you might expect, nine lines each, but this allows for more complex and abstract ideas, which are archetypal of metaphysical poetry. The first stanza is the most forceful, as it uses the imperative to gain a sense of command and implies that one is speaking to a specific person. The second stanza begins conditionally, “if,” and continues to be directed toward the apparent listener through the repeated use of the second person singular, “you.” Both are full of exotic imagery, of which the final stanza is completely devoid, and the final stanza also takes on a much more colloquial and monosyllabic tone. The first sentence is a command: "Go catch a shooting star", and an impossible one, because how can you catch a star? The word "fall" suggests a gradual deterioration, rather than a fall that would be irrecoverable; there is a sense that there is a possibility, but it is limited. Interestingly, Donne uses the conventionally romantic image of a star in defiance of a traditional idea such as monogamy. It could also be linked to the fourth line which references the devil, as Lucifer was a fallen angel and stars are often symbolic of angels and heaven, this image of the devil is perhaps an early suggestion of the duplicity of women. Donne builds on this idea of ​​the impossible in the second line, "Take with your child a mandrake root", there is a lot of superstition around the mandrake plant, it is said to cry out when pulled from the ground, and "it resembles the shape human, sometimes to the female form and sometimes the male, depending on whether the roots are double or triple". This could also be linked to the devil having "cloven" feet, which also resemble the forked sole due to the idea of ​​division and multiplicity. This in turn suggests the women's inconstancy, suggesting their dual relationships. Further fantastic images are those of "singing mermaids". The mermaids could be seen as important in this poem as they appear to be women above the waist but are not below, and this could therefore suggest that women can be deceptive creatures. There is also the idea that they lure men to their deaths in the water, this has been said to relate to Odysseus' experience in the "Odyssey", although he encountered the sirens who lived on an island, not in the sea . Donne uses the word “biting” to describe envy, finally openly getting to the point of the poem. The word sting suggests something that, inflicted by an external force, removes all guilt from the object of envy. It is a spicy image, which suggests the intensity of feeling. There is also a slightly bitter undertone caused by the constant use of hard consonants such as "go", "get", "teach" and "tell". Then the poem seems to slow down very quickly in the final chorus, seeming to echo To the sound of the wind, the speaker wonders how honesty can be achieved, and we can assume that he is referring to honesty in the sense of being chaste. It should be noted that although "wind" does not seem to rhyme with "find" and "mind",it was pronounced as such at the time, as is often seen in Shakespeare. In fact it was a rather familiar rhyme to use, rather boring in fact, which combined with the monosyllabic rhythm of these last lines, seems to reflect his boredom with women. The second verse is full of convoluted imagery and hyperbole; it's as if Donne is mocking the very idea of ​​a love poem. It is interesting that Donne takes the commonly used hyphenated adjective of "snow white" and uses it as a subjunctive verb, making the image fairytale-like, perhaps suggesting how unlikely it would be for a woman to be faithful. Donne also uses the paradoxical idea of ​​things "invisible to be seen" which further emphasizes this idea. Again the suggestion of time implicit in the verse is surely a reference to other poets of love and their impossible promises to women, to love them forever and a day. etc etc. In this part of the poem he seems to be challenging the reader to find evidence contrary to his opinion, stating that it simply does not exist: "You, when you return, will tell me that a real woman lives, and just." What's strange is that here Donne seems to say that only beautiful women will be unfaithful, does this mean that ugly women will be unfaithful? The repeated "you" is accusatory, it seems that the listener is actually that woman, beautiful and erratic. The tone at the end of this verse is much more personal and the syntax more difficult; this is perhaps an indication of a personal feeling, of his distrust. The final stanza begins sardonically, "if you find one, let me know", seems to express the opinion that a woman of character and beauty is implausible. It's relatively colloquial, there's no imagery to speak of, and the words are less poetic and less seemingly organized than in the previous two stanzas. He seems dismissive of women, it all seems like a waste of time, he's saying that even if you find the woman I'm looking for, it will only take you as long as writing a letter for her to be unfaithful to "two, or three" other men. However this rhyme adds phonological quality to the poem, as the simplicity is perhaps more song-like than the rest of the poem. The poem's regular rhyme and meter also help create this feeling. There is a very tight verse structure, consisting of an ABAB rhyming sestet preceding the rhyming triplet in each stanza. The triplet shows an insistence of opinion, emphasizes the points made but also creates a lilting rhythm at the end of each line, like the chorus of a song. The two very short lines immediately precede a much longer one, thus creating a contrast, which mirrors the contrasting images in the poem. For example, there is the celestial image of a "shooting star" adjacent to the earth-bound image of "mandrake root." ", then follows the beautiful image of the "singing sirens" with the ugly appearance of the devil. It would seem that light and darkness are paralleled, and it is a strange image to use when describing love and constancy. This continues in the second stanza where in the third line there is the contrast between day and night, which continues to express images of light and darkness as in the first stanza. The idea of ​​"pilgrimage" is also significant, which seems to connect to the others religious elements of the poem and suggests sacrifice and religious Puritanism, but this serious image is immediately followed by a light-hearted line: "Yet don't, I wouldn't go, / Though next door we might meet... ." around the seriousness of love in other poems, it seems cynical towards women, but not in a way that could be interpreted as misogynistic. Keep in mind: this is just one example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get.