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Literary devices

 Literary Devices of the song Go and catch a falling star



overall structure 

  • 03 stanzas (Rhyme ABABCCDDD)
  • Lyrical, meant for singing.
  • Dramatic monologue.
  • Extended metaphysical conceits.
  • Light and humorous tone. (cynical and satirical)
  • Theme: Inconsistency of women/ infidelity of women, in spiritual view: about fallen humanity.

Stanza one


 Metaphor: falling star (falling of an angel – refers to the falling of Lucifer who fell from the heaven to hell because of betrayal to the god) Refers to the women who fell from virtue and fidelity.

Allusions: mandrake root (a human shaped root which is commonly associated with witchcraft. /black magic, you might have watched this in Harry Potter film – The Chamber of Secrets)

Devil’s cleft foot (related to the feet of devil which is divided into two like hooves of a calf) Here the poet challenges the reader to find the creator who designed the devil.

Mermaid singing (related to Sirens who are mythical creatures consists of a human head and body like a bird, found in Homer’s Odyssey, they lure sailors from their enchanting singing and it was said that Odysseus ordered his crew to pour wax into their ears and bind themselves with ropes to be saved from their enchantment) 

Imperatives/apostrophe: Starts the poem with a command preparing the reader to move and in the next moment he/she understands that it is impossible to fulfil the commands given.

Visual imagery: falling star

Enjambment: run on line


Stanza two




Conditional: If  

Hyperbole: ten thousand days and nights (27 years)

Visual imagery: white hairs on thee

 

 In the second stanza the poet says, if the reader has the ability to see “strange sights” or to see “things invisible” then he should go ten thousand days and nights, till he has hair white with age in search of a woman who is both “true and fair” or beautiful as well as faithful. The speaker says even after such drawn-out journey he would still come and say that it was impossible to find such a woman.



Stanza three 






Subjunctive: were (shows disbelief of the poet in finding such a woman)

Anaphora: though (emphasizes the less consistency of the woman)

Caesurae: yet do not // I would not go (implies hesitation) yet she // will be (provides time for the reader to think and enter the final argument)

 



 

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