The Flea By John Donne - 1558 Words

â€Å"The Flea† Essay â€Å"The Flea† by John Donne when looked at briefly is simply a poem about a man trying to seduce a woman into participating in pre-material sexual relationship with him. However, â€Å"The Flea† constructs many more important arguments than simply that one. The poem touches on religion, love, and sex in a non-romanticized way, contrasting the normal glamorized stance seen in most of poetry. Most of John Donne’s poems have either romantic themes or religious themes; â€Å"The Flea† has both. It is important to recognize that Donne was a 17th century preacher who converted from Catholicism to Protestantism (â€Å"John Donne.† Poetry Foundation). The struggle between lust and dedication to Christianity is not unfamiliar to Donne and is most†¦show more content†¦He makes the point that the flea has sucked both of their blood and therefore, inside the flea, their blood is mixed together. He states that it was a simple and natural happening and that there was no â€Å"sin, or shame, or loss of maidenhead† (Donne) associated with the incident. The woman attempts to squish the flea and the speaker attempts to stop her as now the flea is more than a simple flea since it contains part of both of them. Alas, the woman kills the flea but the speaker is quick to change his agenda stating that no more honor would be lost in sleeping with him than it was in killing the flea. It takes the stance that lust precedes reputation. The first line of the poem states â€Å"mark but this flea†(Donne) although it is before the reader learns that the flea will become a metaphor for sexual relations, looking back on the choice of belittling words, it seems to imply that sex is not a serious matter. The second line conforms this idea as the speaker pushes the idea that she is denying him of such an insignificant activity. Of course the woman denying him has a similar idea to most of 17th century women. It is forward thinking of Donne to speak of sexual relations in such a casual demeanor. The speaker complains that the fly gets to enjoy the taste of this woman without any wooing while he cannot. The climax of the poem occurs at lines 10-11 when Donne writes â€Å"O stay, three lives in one flea spare, Where we almost,Show MoreRelatedThe Flea By John Donne883 Words   |  4 PagesJohn Donne was a contemporary of Shakespeare. His writing career occurred during the Renaissance. Poems about seduction were common during this era. The Flea by John Donne was a poem about a man urging his love interest into a sexual union with him by way of reason. In this time, premarital sex was considered a great sin and could get someone in a lot of trouble. The flea in this poem was used as a symbol of love and romance. A flea was one of the things that would least likely be used to describeRead MoreThe Flea By John Donne997 Words   |  4 Pagesâ€Å"The Flea†, by John Donne is a raunchy romantic poem that explains the speakers unyielding love that is represented by an insect. Using the insect to seduce his beloved after they both get bitten by the insect. As the speaker seduces his beloved, he involves her beliefs and values, intending to get his way with her no matter what it takes. But s he doesn’t give in to his manipulation. As you read more deeply into the poem, we can also see the larger and symbolic meanings of this poem. For exampleRead MoreThe Flea By John Donne1314 Words   |  6 Pagescliches about love such as, cheeks like roses or, hearts pierced by the arrows of love.. John Donne, a well known poet of that time period writes many poems about love, but none using all those tired, worn out cliches. Donne brings his poems to life using vivid imagery and elaborately sustained metaphors known as conceits. (The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Vol. B 1260). In Donne s poem The Flea the reader gets to see more of a funny and amusing love poem, while his poem A Valediction:Read MoreThe Flea By John Donne Essay1497 Words   |  6 Pagesthe poem. The author John Donne has written many poems that could be interpreted in many ways, and are analyzed by many people in the United States and around the world. John Donne’s â€Å"The Flea†is a good example of a poem that can be analyzed fo r its physical and intellectual parts, and how they work together to make the poem what it is because it is descriptive, and can be interpreted in many ways. First, it is important to look at the physical parts of a poem. Donne’s â€Å"The Flea†is comprised of threeRead MoreThe Flea By John Donne1354 Words   |  6 Pagesmost notably that of intimacy. In John Donne’s poem â€Å"The Flea,† extended metaphor is used to explain that the act of intimacy does not matter whether it is performed before or after marriage. Also, explicit imagery is noticeable through the poem and outlines the underlying taboo topic being discussed. Another important detail, the flea within the poem is not only used as a comparison in the extended metaphor, but also as a symbol of innocence. In â€Å"The Flea,† Donne plainly spites the acceptance ofRead MoreThe Flea By John Donne Essay923 Words   |  4 Pagesimpression of â€Å"The Flea,† one does not expect an erotic love story. The title suggests a tiny insect may be the main focus of the poem, but this assumption proves to be incorrect. Using intense metaphors, ima gery, symbolism, and alliteration to perform his argument, the speaker is attempting to woo a lady in a rather repulsive romantic comedy approach. Throughout the couplets, the flea is personified and becomes symbolic of a much greater meaning. Although John Donne’s â€Å"The Flea† obviously discussesRead MoreEssay on The Flea by John Donne2357 Words   |  10 PagesThe Flea by John Donne â€Å"The Flea†, a witty poem of seduction and conceit, taken from John Donne’s â€Å"Songs and Sonets† is the poem that I have chosen to compare to â€Å"Song†, another poem of John Donne’s where he is passionately pleading with his wife not to be disheartened about his departure abroad. Both poems which belong to â€Å" Songs and Sonets†, written around the time of the 16th century, show that their title suggests they are both short poems, following the traditional form of a sonnetRead MoreThe Flea by John Donne Essay1059 Words   |  5 PagesThe Flea by John Donne In the poem The Flea, by John Donne, the speaker uses a peculiar analogy in order to persuade his beloved to engage in premarital intercourse with him. The poem is composed of three stanzas that tell a story in chronological order about a flea that has sucked the blood of the two subjects. It tells the reader how the speaker attempts to persuade his beloved not to kill the flea because it is their marriage bed and then tells of how the womanRead MoreThe Flea By John Donne And Easter Wings1412 Words   |  6 PagesIn the poems, â€Å"The Flea† by John Donne and â€Å"Easter Wings† by George Herbert use the literary device of a metaphor to convey the meaning of the poems. The use of metaphor by these two authors are essential to the themes of the poems. Metaphors are used to compare two different subjects to explain the poem. The metaphors in these poems draw from the central themes to help the reader understand the deeper meaning of the poem. â€Å"The Flea† uses the metaphor of the flea to explain the relationship of theRead MoreAnalysis Of The Poem The Flea By John Donne1033 Words   |  5 Pagesnoticeable influence. For example, in the poem, â€Å"The Flea†, by John Donne, initially it referred to a flea biting the speaker but as the reader proceeds further the perspective changes from this flea into the larger picture, which is a humorous little debate whether the speaker and his beloved will partake in premarital sex or not. Donne chose to word the poem in a format very similar to Frost’s definition of poetry. Donne begins using the flea as an analogy and this translates into the persuasive