THE BAIT

John Donne

Diego Rábago Corral

José Mateo Gonzalez
Come live with me, and be my love, If thou, to be so seen, be'st loth,

And we will some new pleasures prove By sun or moon, thou dark'nest both, For thee, thou need'st no such deceit,
Of golden sands, and crystal brooks, And if myself have leave to see, For thou thyself art thine own bait:
With silken lines, and silver hooks. I need not their light having thee. That fish, that is not catch'd thereby,

Alas, is wiser far than I.

There will the river whispering run Let others freeze with angling reeds,

Warm'd by thy eyes, more than the sun; And cut their legs with shells and weeds,

And there the 'enamour'd fish will stay, Or treacherously poor fish beset,

Begging themselves they may betray. With strangling snare, or windowy net.

When thou wilt swim in that live bath, Let coarse bold hands from slimy nest

Each fish, which every channel hath, The bedded fish in banks out-wrest;

Will amorously to thee swim, Or curious traitors, sleeve-silk flies,

Gladder to catch thee, than thou him. Bewitch poor fishes' wand'ring eyes.
Come live with me, and be my love, If thou, to be so seen, be'st loth,

And we will some new pleasures prove By sun or moon, thou dark'nest both, For thee, thou need'st no such deceit,
Of golden sands, and crystal brooks, And if myself have leave to see, For thou thyself art thine own bait:
With silken lines, and silver hooks. I need not their light having thee. That fish, that is not catch'd thereby,

Alas, is wiser far than I.

There will the river whispering run Let others freeze with angling reeds,

Warm'd by thy eyes, more than the sun; And cut their legs with shells and weeds,

And there the 'enamour'd fish will stay, Or treacherously poor fish beset,

Begging themselves they may betray. With strangling snare, or windowy net.

When thou wilt swim in that live bath, Let coarse bold hands from slimy nest

Each fish, which every channel hath, The bedded fish in banks out-wrest;

Will amorously to thee swim, Or curious traitors, sleeve-silk flies,

Gladder to catch thee, than thou him. Bewitch poor fishes' wand'ring eyes.
 STRUCTURE
• His poem shows Donne’s ability to take the standard pastoral form and apply it to a traditional spiritual
metaphor.
• It is composed by seven four-line stanzas.
• AABB rhyme scheme.
• Donne characteristically begins the poem with an address to his beloved.  “some new pleasures prove” (line 2),
suggesting spiritual, intellectual, or sexual pleasures.