Song go catch a falling star.

Question 1

Overview:

Answer 1

This song takes on a relatively misogynistic tone, as the speaker compares the plight of finding a woman who is true and honest to a series of impossible tasks. The final stanza notes that even if a perfect woman were found, it would be short lived.

Question 2

Form:

Answer 2

• Intended to be set to music.
• Could be simply mocking a persona rather than merely being a misogynisitc diatribe.
• Dramatic monologue - shows a better lover - allows the audience to judge their views - the speakers opinion could be taken satirically.

Question 3

“go get a falling star”

Answer 3

• Number of imperatives at the beginning - asking for an impossible task.
• The initial task is suggestive of romance - stars are typically wished upon - however because it is impossible it suggests that love is something frustrating.

Question 4

“Get with child a mandrake root”

Answer 4

• Mandrake root - thought to have human characteristics and would scream when being pulled from the ground.

Question 5

“Ten thousand days and nights”

Answer 5

• Hyperbolic.
• The extent that people would have to go to to find a constant woman.
• Physical aging process with the mention go “till age Snow White hair” - also implies that the task is long.

Question 6

“Thou she were true, when you met her… false ere I come, to two or three”.

Answer 6

• Final misogynistic claim of the poem.
• States that even if a constant woman was found - that would have changed by the time a letter was written to alert the speaker.

Question 6

“If thou findst one, let me know/ such pilgrimage were sweet”.

Answer 6

• “If’ - suggests hope.
• Description of finding this woman as being a pilgrimage - denotes a holy experience.
• Implies that finding the woman would be sweet.