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Try and Fail

--A brief analysis of “Song: Go and Catch a Falling Star”

周昊 1200011033

A man died not when he is struggling, but when he gives up struggling. John Donne?s “Song: Go and Catch a Falling Star”exemplifies a man?s cynicism of women and desperation of love.

The first cause of desperation is his concessive failures. From my viewpoint, Donne?s first stanza composed a full story of a man?s struggling history, more than some simple contemplations or symbols. In the first six lines, a series of metaphors are adopted. To catch a falling star, the good omen, indicates a desire for fortune. A mandrake root equipped with a child symbolizes the poet?s urgent needs of strength. Also, temptation of love and women is no doubt represented by mermaid?s singing.Thus in an ingenuous way, this poem presents the man?s consecutive trials and failures in my imagination.At first, the narrator triedto pursue a girl but failed due to misfortune. Then in hatred of his impotence, he urgently desired to strengthen himself but failed again. When he reviewed the past years, there was nothing he could do but mourning. However, the most tragic is that, in the end, he could not resist the temptation of love even if he knew it was as dangerous as mermaid?s singing. At the beginning of this poem, this plethora of impossible tasks are commanded in a coercive tone. However, more coercive the commands are, more impotent the narrator is.

Another attributor is his failure in mind. Suffered from these failures, there is no wonder for his cynical words, “No where/lives a woman true, and fair”. Although assertive were his assertions in women?s vileness,the narrator still wantedto know, to believe that there was a woman who was “true and fair”.The most impressive words here is the transition at line 19-20.At last, he still struggled to attribute all his despair to his misfortune rather than the inexistency of his dream lover. He wanted to ?let himself know? ?her?. He desired for this woman, not a specific person, but a resurrection of his moribund belief in love and loyalty. While all other words were fulfilled with accusation of women, these two lines showed the remaining desire of love in his mind.

But this two-line dream was too short for him to hold.It was cruel to break up his dream of ?sweet pilgrimage?, but even tragic when an abrupt end was given by himself. There are merely two lines of imagination before the tone turns upset again. This turning point indicate the thorough elimination of his faith. After this self-denial, his heart was totally filled with despair. This dream became the last straw that leads to his collapse.

At the end of this poem, we can even hear the poet?s intermittent voice when he is

sobbing out: “to two, or three”. The last line is composed of four fragments of phrases. Commas here exactly expressed the intermittence of voice, which reflected his sorrow. For the narrator?s conflicted heart, no more words he could afford here to continue his speculation of women?s vileness.

The poem begins with myths but ends in personal emotion, begins with long sentences but ends in short phrases, begins with commanding but ends in sobbing. All of these sharp comparisons vividly presents the transition of narrator?s emotion, from assertion to guess, from angry to despair. Although I want to say more about the beauty of structure and its colloquial words, if more time given, I have to stress that line 19-20 are the most striking part for me.

It is the loss of faith which finally beat him. This poem successfully depicted the inner world of this narrator. Even if there is a glimmer of hope, a man can struggle on his feet and go on. No matter how many failures he encountered, it is his mind rather than his body that determines him to go on or not. Here, the narrator?s pursuit of love has never been stopped until he was doubting where there was ?an honest mind? or not. But at the end, in his heart there lied nothing but the cynicism of women.

For now, “No where/Lives a woman true, and fair”, in his heart.