Summary of the poem Bait

                                                              The Bait

                                                                         by John Donne

The speaker asks the article of his feeling to come back brook him—presumably to marry him and be his married woman. He then discusses fish in pools associated brooks as an indirect means of describing the attract of his beloved. The watercourse are warm by her eyes, and therefore the passing fish are drawn to her, simply caught. If she enters the water, the fish can follow her. whereas others might catch fish in slippery  and hurtful ways in which, deceiving the fish, the beloved is her “own bait,” honestly attracting others to her. The author concludes that any fish that may resist her charms is wiser than himself.

Analysis

This type|literary composition|literary work} shows Donne’s ability to require the quality pastoral form and apply it to a standard non secular image. Whereas the normal pastoral would concentrate on a shepherd or another land-based individual, “The Bait” takes as its motif a skilled worker. rather than sheep and inexperienced fields, reverend describes seltzer and fish. The literary work is created of seven four-line stanzas, every of that follows associate aabb rhyme theme.

Donne characteristically begins the literary work with associate address to his beloved: can she brook him? If she will, they will “some new pleasures prove” (line 2), suggesting non secular, intellectual, or sexual pleasures. By the tip of the stanzas, he has modified the subject from sand and brooks to—of all things—fishing hooks.

This transition is therefore uncommon that the reader may quickly see the non secular that means of the conceit: the beloved is Jesus, WHO is that the fisher of men within the Christian Gospels. This association helps the reader see what's happening within the remainder of the literary work. within the second text, the water are “Warm'd by thy eyes, quite the sun” (line 6); so, God outshines the sun (in line fourteen his beloved is therefore bright she darkens the sun and moon both). consequently, each fish are “enamour’d” of her (line 7) and abides together with her.

To take successive step, the beloved enters the water and swims with the fish, parallel to Jesus coming into the planet and attracting followers. On the physical level, the fish represent men WHO area unit taken by the woman’s beauty and therefore near to her, heedless of the captivity they'll endure to her charms. Yet, Donne’s non secular that means is difficult to miss once the vanity has been unbarred.

Stanzas 5 and 6 compare the beloved’s ability to attract her prey with the difficulties alternative fishermen encounter via their less excusable ways. they will “freeze” and “cut their legs” in harsh conditions; worse, they will act “treacherously” (line 19) and use deception or cruelty to catch the fish (“strangling snare,” line 20, or the “curious traitors, sleeve-silk flies” used as bait in line 23). The worldly analog to those false baits could also be promiscuous or deceitful girls, WHO cannot win a man’s love by their own natural beauty and instead act with deception or ruse. The non secular analog is that cluster of demagogues or false preachers WHO deceive or build false guarantees so as to realize followers.

In the final text, the author concludes that the beloved “need’st no such deceit” (line 25). this can be as a result of the natural goodness that inherently attracts men: “thou thyself art thine own bait” (line 26). Indeed, the author has already been caught, comparison himself to at least one of the fish: “That fish, that's not catch’d thereby,/Alas! is wiser so much than I” (lines 27-28). he's therefore smitten of her that he willnot imagine anyone WHO can escape her charms.

Yet, maybe there extremely could be a fish therefore wise it's not caught. is that this associate ironic dig at unchristianly philosophers WHO believe they're too wise be drawn to Jesus? Or is that the author in secret hoping that he may well be wise enough to not get caught? One could be drawn to appear deeply into Donne’s life history to undertake to uncover the degree to that he genuinely determined to be a Christian divine versus succumbing to the pressure of his times.

Either way, as a metaphysical author, reverend succeeds here in making a love literary work that doesn't place confidence in passion or bald physical attraction to convey its purpose. He goes the alternative direction, speaking of slippery  fish, ultimately human action the purity of on it.