This poem is mainly about the lack of constancy in women. The tone adopted is that of gentle, mocking cynicism. Donne asks the reader to do the impossible, which he compares to finding a constant wife, thus insinuating that no such woman exists. The title, “Song,” leaves us expecting certain things: a lyrical element in the words and a musical rhythm, which are fulfilled by this carefully crafted poem. It is also very ambiguous and makes no allusion to the subject of the poem. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay The stanzas are slightly longer than expected, nine lines each, but this allows for more complex and abstract ideas to be expressed, which are archetypes of metaphysical poetry. The first stanza is the most powerful, employing the imperative to gain a sense of command and implying that it is addressed 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, “thou.” Both are rich in exotic imagery, of which the final stanza is completely devoid, and the final stanza also takes on a much more conversational and monosyllabic tone. The first sentence is an order: “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 irremediable. There is a feeling that there is a chance, but it is narrow. Interestingly, Donne uses the conventionally romantic image of a star in defiance of such a traditional idea as monogamy. This could also be related to the fourth line which refers to the devil, since Lucifer was a fallen angel and stars often symbolize angels and heaven. This imagery of the devil is perhaps an early suggestion of the duplicity of women. Donne builds on this. idea of ​​the impossible in the second verse, "Get with your child a mandrake root", there are many superstitions around the mandrake plant, it is said to scream when pulled from the ground, and it "resembles the human form, sometimes the female form and sometimes the male, depending on whether the roots are double or triple". This could again be linked to the devil with “split” feet, who also resembles the plant with forked roots in the idea of ​​division and multiplicity. This in turn suggests the women's fickleness, suggesting their doubled relationships. Another fantastic imagery is that of “singing mermaids”. The mermaids could be considered important in this poem because they appear to be women above the waist but not below, which could therefore suggest that women can be deceptive creatures. There is also the idea that they lure men to a watery death, this is said to be linked to the experience of Odysseus in "The Odyssey", although he encountered the sirens who dwelt on a island and not in the sea. Donne uses the word "pungent" to describe the craving, ultimately overtly arriving at the point of the poem. The word sting suggests something that is inflicted by an outside force, it deflects all blame away from the subject of the urge. It is a piquant image, suggesting the intensity of feeling. There is also a slightly bitter undertone caused by the constant use of harsh consonants such as "go", "get", "teach" and "say". Then the poem seems to slow down very quickly in the final refrain, seeming to echo The sound of the wind, the speaker wonders how to acquire honesty, and we can presume that this refers to honestyin the sense of being chaste. It should be noted that although "wind" does not seem to rhyme with "find" and "spirit", it was pronounced as such at the time, as we often see in Shakespeare. In fact, it was rather a familiar rhyme to use, quite boring in fact, which, combined with the monosyllabic rhythm of these last lines, seemed to reflect his boredom with women. The second stanza is full of convoluted imagery and hyperbole; it’s as if Donne is mocking the very idea of ​​a love poem. Interestingly, Donne takes the commonly used hyphenated adjective of “white as snow” and uses it as a subjunctive verb. It gives the image a fairy tale feel, perhaps suggesting how unlikely it would be for a woman to be faithful. Donne also uses the paradoxical idea of ​​things "invisible to see", which further reinforces this idea. Again, the suggestion of time implicit in the verse is surely a reference to other love poets and their impossible promises to women, to love them forever and a day. etc. etc. In this part of the poem, it seems that he is challenging the reader to find evidence contrary to his opinion, claiming that it simply does not exist: "You, when you come back, will you tell me that a woman is true . , and fair". What is strange is that here Donne seems to say that only beautiful women will be unfaithful, does this mean that ugly women will be? The repeated "you" is accusatory, it seems that the listener is in fact such a woman, beautiful and fickle The tone at the end of this stanza is much more personal and the syntax more difficult this is perhaps an indication of his personal feeling, his distrust. The final stanza begins sardonically, "if you find one, let me know", it seems to express the opinion that a woman of character and beauty is unlikely. there are no images to speak of and the words are less poetic and less seemingly organized than in the previous two stanzas. It seems dismissive of women, it all seems like a waste of time, he says that even if you find the. woman I am looking for, you will only need time to write a letter for her to be unfaithful. “two or three” other men. However, this rhyme adds to the phonological quality of 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, which consists of an ABAB rhyming seset preceding the rhyming triplet in each stanza. The triplet shows an emphasis of opinion, it emphasizes the points made but also creates a lilting rhythm at the end of each verse, like the chorus of a song. The two very short lines immediately precede a much longer line, creating a contrast that reflects the contrasting images of the poem. For example, there is the celestial image of a “shooting star” adjacent to the earthly image of “mandrake root”. ", then comes the beautiful image of the "singing mermaids" with the ugly appearance of the devil. It would seem that light and darkness are paralleled, and it is a strange imagery to use to describe 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. Also significant is a "pilgrimage", which seems linked to the other religious elements of the poem and suggests sacrifice and religious puritanism, but this serious image is immediately followed by a light-hearted quip: "Yet don't go , I wouldn't go, / Even if next door we could.