go and catch a falling star Flashcards
What type of words are used throughout the poem, most significantly in the first stanza, and what does this show?
flurry of imperatives “go” “get” “tell” “teach” etc. - shows certainty and authority
What poetic device is used in the second stanza to further show uncertainty, what else does it do?
Caesura - creates fragmentation either suggesting uncertainty or acting as a comic pause. The focus shifts to beauty “fair”, perhaps looks are more important to the speaker.
What is the meter of this poem and what effect does it create?
Regular trochaic tetrameter creates a playful, songlike tone that acts as an ironic contrast to the content of the poem. EXCEPT for the 7th and 8th line this fractures the pattern isolating the last sine- sense of emphasis, powerful conclusion.v
What is the Rhyme Scheme? What does it suggest?
ababccddd Suggests the voice is completely certain. Also like the meter creates an ironic songlike tone that contrasts with content of the poem.
What type of imagery is used? What effect does it create?
Grotesque imagery. Juxtaposing ideas of female beauty with grotesque imagery - heightens the mockery, sense of ridiculousness.
What does the suggestion of “mermaids” allude to?
The Odessy - beautiful, seductive women luring men to their death.
What tone is established in the first stanza?
Satirical tone
What does the use of “pilgrimage” suggest?
Religious journey to a shrine - for the thing you worship. Speaker undermines worshipping an idealistic image of a woman.
Why is the title of the poem significant?
belies the apparent cynicism in the poem. We might expect a more romantic poem but what we seem to have is a cynical speaker convinced that beautiful people cannot be faithful
What does the enjambment and spondaic lines draw attention to?
the apparent bitterness of the speaker
What do the intimate pronouns ‘thou’ and ‘you’ suggest?
The speaker and the presumed man he is addressing know each other the change to ‘you’ heightens the insecurity of the speaker who sees himself as alone and isolated in his inability to find a ‘true’ and ‘fair’ woman.
What does the use of sibilance emphasise?
“mermaids singing” and “envy’s stinging” help to emphasise the speaker’s bitter tone of voice.
What is assonance and what is it’s effect?
repeated ‘ee’ sound in the triplet ‘she’, ‘be’ and ‘three’ resulting in the poem ending on a more pleading tone along with the abrupt imperatives.
What are the two main differing interpretations of the poem?
- confident and misogynistic assertion that women are essentially faithless
- speaker is aware that perhaps he is not good enough for her and she will find other, better men.
