Come live with me, and be my love, / And we will some new pleasures prove.
-- Speaker (Lines 1-2)

Importance: These are the opening lines of "The Bait," and they are almost identical to the opening lines of Christopher Marlowe's "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love." However, Donne's use of the words "some new pleasures" suggests that he is engaging with Marlowe's poetry in an attempt to present a more innovative approach to the pastoral and Petrarchan tropes on which Marlowe relied.

Of golden sands, and crystal brooks, / With silken lines, and silver hooks.
-- Speaker (Lines 3-4)

Importance: Here, Donne introduces the piscatory element of his poem. He describes an idyllic seascape to which the speaker and the beloved will retreat, yet at the same time introduces the metaphor of fishing. This combination of an ideal setting amidst an activity that typically results in death establishes Donne's affinity for paradox that will continue to operate throughout the poem.

When...
-- Speaker (Lines 9-12)