Go and Catch a Falling Star

Go and Catch a Falling Star is a song by John Donne that builds an argument from extravagant impossibilities. Catching a falling star and other unlikely tasks prepare for the speaker's sweeping claim that constancy in a woman cannot be found. Quick rhythms and surprising turns give the poem its comic sharpness. The distinction between a dramatic voice and an unquestioned truth matters here: the lyric presents a particular posture of disappointed or provocative wit, not evidence for a general judgment about women.