Where Have All the Good Women Gone?

“Song” by John Donne, carries a cynical and dramatic tone throughout the poem. As it presents different impossible tasks, it describes the most impossible of all: finding a woman “true, and fair.” Embittered by his belief in the extinction of true women, the poet goes onto say that even if you were to set out on a pilgrimage in search of such a woman, and “ride ten thousand days and nights,” you too would “swear [that] nowhere lives a woman true, and fair.” And even if you were to find one, she might be “true when you met her” but before you could make a move, “she will be False.” Although, the message is very pessimistic, I like the way it is expressed in a kind of magical feel, as it speaks of “falling star[s]” and “mermaid’s singing.” Instead of contradicting the work as a whole, it really complements it and proves the point: Among all the strange and rare wonders of the world, there is none like the faithful woman. Even if I do not agree with the message, I really liked the poem, it was easy to read and understand. The language was not complicated and the rhyming made the poem very simple, disguising the deeper message and the overall bitter tone.