Song
Goe, and catche a falling starre,Get with child a mandrake roote,Tell me, where all past yeares are,Or who cleft the Divels foot,Teach me to heare Mermaides singing,Or to keep off envies stinging,And findeWhat windeServes to advance an honest minde.
If thou beest borne to strange sights,Things invisible to see,Ride ten thousand daies and nights,Till age snow white haires on thee,Thou, when thou retorn'st, wilt tell meeAll strange wonders that befell thee,And sweareNo whereLives a woman true, and faire.
If thou findst one, let mee know,Such a Pilgrimage were sweet;Yet doe not, I would not goe,Though at next doore wee might meet,Though shee were true, when you met her,And last, till you write your letter,Yet sheeWill beeFalse, ere I come, to two, or three.
Words in this poem
- starre n.
- One of the innumerable luminous bodies seen in the heavens; any heavenly body other than the sun, moon, comets, and nebulæ. [OE. sterre, AS. steorra; akin to OFries. stera, OS. sterro, D. ster, OHG. sterno, sterro, G. stern, Icel. stjarna, Sw. stjerna, Dan. stierne, Goth. staírno, Arm]
- mandrake n.
- A low plant (Mandragora officinarum) of the Nightshade family, having a fleshy root, often forked, and supposed to resemble a man. [AS. mandragora, L. mandragoras, fr. Gr. mandragore.]
- pilgrimage n.
- The journey of a pilgrim; a long journey; especially, a journey to a shrine or other sacred place. Fig., the journey of human life. [OE. pilgrimage, pelgrinage; cf. F. pèlerinage.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Song is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poems of John Donne, Volume 1 (of 2) Edited from the Old Editions and Numerous Manuscripts, Project Gutenberg ebook #48688; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: John Donne, Song, in Poems (1633), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #48688, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/donne-poems/song.html, id L19838.
Form and metre
Song is 27 lines in 3 stanzas of 9 lines each. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.2 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 25% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABABCCDDD starreA · rooteB · areA · footB · singingC · stingingC · findeD · windeD · mindeD
- 2 ABABBB-CC sightsA · seeB · nightsA · theeB · meeB · theeB · sweare · whereC · faireC
- 3 ABAB--CCC knowA · sweetB · goeA · meetB · her · letter · sheeC · beeC · threeC
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Goe, and catche a falling starre, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Get with child a mandrake roote, | 7 | ····/·· |
| Tell me, where all past yeares are, | 7 | ······· |
| Or who cleft the Divels foot, | 7 | ······· |
| Teach me to heare Mermaides singing, | 8 | ····/·/˘ |
| Or to keep off envies stinging, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| And finde | 2 | ·· |
| What winde | 2 | ·· |
| Serves to advance an honest minde. | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| If thou beest borne to strange sights, | 7 | ······· |
| Things invisible to see, | 7 | ·˘/˘˘·· |
| Ride ten thousand daies and nights, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Till age snow white haires on thee, | 7 | ······· |
| Thou, when thou retorn'st, wilt tell mee | 8 | ········ |
| All strange wonders that befell thee, | 8 | ··/˘·˘/· |
| And sweare | 2 | ·· |
| No where | 2 | ·· |
| Lives a woman true, and faire. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| If thou findst one, let mee know, | 7 | ······· |
| Such a Pilgrimage were sweet; | 7 | ··/˘˘·· |
| Yet doe not, I would not goe, | 7 | ······· |
| Though at next doore wee might meet, | 7 | ······· |
| Though shee were true, when you met her, | 8 | ········ |
| And last, till you write your letter, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Yet shee | 2 | ·· |
| Will bee | 2 | ·· |
| False, ere I come, to two, or three. | 8 | ········ |
Notes from the edition 5
Herbert Grierson's record of the readings of the early editions and manuscripts, from his Poems of John Donne (Oxford, 1912; Project Gutenberg #48688).
- Stanza 1, line 3 past yeares] times past 1669: past times P
- Stanza 2, line 2 to see] go see 1669, S, S96: see most other MSS.
- Stanza 3, line 2 sweet; 1669: sweet, 1633-54
- Stanza 3, line 6 last, till] last so till O'F, S, S96
- Stanza 3, line 9 False, ... three] False, ere she come to two or three. 1669
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.