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Come live with me, and be my love, And we will some new pleasures prove. Of golden sands, and crystal brooks, With silken lines, and silver hooks. There will the river whispering run. Warm'd by thy eyes, more than the sun; And there the 'enamour'd fish will stay, Begging themselves they may betray.
- Summary
- Themes
- Structure and Form
- Literary Devices
- Detailed Analysis
- Alternative Interpretation
- Similar Poetry
‘The Bait’ by John Donne is an interesting, multilayered poem inspired by Christopher Marlowe’s ‘The Passionate Shepherd to His Love.’ The poem mimics Marlowe’s poem in many ways, including the opening lines. Rather than use classic pastoral imagery, though, Donne sets the poem near a river and uses a fishing conceitas the basis of his text. He des...
The main theme of this poem is love. The speaker uses the seven stanzas to complement his beloved on her good moralsand beauty. She’s so full of light that the speaker feels as though he doesn’t need the light of the sun or moon. She’s also able to bring people to her side (represented by her standing near a river and attracting fish) with no effor...
‘The Bait’ by John Donne is a seven-stanza poem divided into sets of four lines, known as quatrains. These quatrains follow a simple rhyme scheme of AABB CCDD, and so on, changing end sounds from the first to seventh stanzas. This is the same rhyme scheme that Marlowe used in his poem. The poet also chose to iambic tetrameter. This means that each ...
Donne uses a few different literary devices in ‘The Bait.’ Some of these are: 1. Allusion: seen through a reference to something outside the scope of the poem. For instance, in this poem, the poet alludes to Christopher Marlowe’s poem ‘The Passionate Shepherd to His Love.’ 2. Metaphor: a comparison between two things that don’t use “like” or “as.” ...
Stanza One
In the first lines of ‘The Bait,’ Donne begins by copying Marlowe’s opening line, “Come live with me, and be my love.” The second line is also quite similar; Marlowe writes, “And we will all the pleasures prove,” and Donne changes “all the” to “some new.” This indicates that this poem is meant to be a response to the previous; it is working from what Marlowe has already created. The shepherd, in Marlowe’s version, is talking to his lover, asking her to come to him and love him, leaving behind...
Stanzas Two and Three
The second stanza continues in the same way, with the speaker, a parodyof Marlowe’s shepherd, telling his love that she is so beautiful and has so much sway over the world that she could warm the river with her eyes better than the sun could. The fish in the river will be so taken by her that rather than swim away in fear, they’ll stay near her wanting to feel her presence. They would put themselves at risk just to be close to her. The third stanza continues talking about the fish, with the s...
Stanza Four
The fourth stanza is also fairly simple, with the speaker creating a rather predictable comparison between the lady and night/day. He believes that she is some of both and that she’d rather not be seen in any kind of light, rather than be in sunlight or moonlight. Plus, he adds, when he’s with her, he never even longs for any other kind of light. She provides the warmth and goodness that he needs. This intentional exaggeration is another example of hyperbole. Donne is using these lines to pus...
There is another popular interpretation of this poem that Donne was only using the image of a woman as a metaphor for God and Christianity. That Jesus is the one in the water attracting the fish with his bright, good morals and that the other fishermen, those who use bait and hooks, are the unChristian preachers and representatives of other religio...
Readers who enjoyed this poem should also consider reading some other John Donne poems. For example: 1. ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls’ – is a famous poem that explores the human condition. 2. ‘Death, be not Proud’ – is addressed to the reader and asks them not to fear Death as he only keeps morally corrupt company. 3. ‘Holy Sonnet XVII’ – addresses God ...
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- October 9, 1995
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Of golden sands, and crystal brooks, With silken lines, and silver hooks. There will the river whispering run. Warmed by thy eyes, more than the sun. And there the'enamoured fish will stay, Begging themselves they may betray. When thou wilt swim in that live bath,
Come live with mee, and bee my love, And wee will some new pleasures prove Of golden sands, and christall brookes, With silken lines, and silver hookes. There will the river whispering...
Of golden sands, and crystal brooks, With silken lines and silver hooks. There will the river whisp'ring run. Warm'd by thy eyes, more than the sun ; And there th' enamour'd fish will stay, Begging themselves they may betray. When thou wilt swim in that live bath, Each fish, which every channel hath, Will amorously to thee swim,
Jun 14, 2024 · Come live with me, and be my love, And we will some new pleasures prove Of golden sands, and crystal brooks, With silken lines, and silver hooks. There will the river whispering run Warm’d by thy eyes, more than the sun; And there the ‘enamour’d fish will stay, Begging themselves they may betray.
May 30, 2022 · Donne was talking about ‘golden sands, crystal brooks, silken lines and silver hooks’. The river there will be warmed by her looks rather than by the sun. The fish are attracted to her and come to stay to be caught.
