The Flea John Donne

that this act of the flea having both of their blood in its body is

The Flea and To His Coy Mistress are two poems written by poets living during the Renaissance Period. To His Coy Mistress was written by Andrew Marvell and The Flea was written by John Donne. Both of these poets were well-educated 'metaphysical poets', and these poems illustrate metaphysical concerns, highly abstract and theoretical ideas, that the poets would have been interested in. Both poems are based around the same idea of trying to reason with a 'mistress' as to why they should give up their virginity to the poet.

On the surface, John Donne’s poem “The Flea” dramatizes the conflict between two people on the issue of premarital sex, however, under the surface, the poem uses religious imagery to seduce the woman into having sex. The speaker in this poem is a man, who is strategically trying to convince a woman to have premarital sex with him through the conceit based on a flea, however, the coy lady has thus far yielded to his lustful desires. The speaker’s argument has the form of logic, which contradicts to its outrageous content.

Comparing The Flea and Valentine "The flea" is a metaphysical poem about a man trying to argue a virgin into bed to have sexual intercourse with him. This poem was most likely written to amuse the readers and probably more for a larger male audience. The poem was written in the late 17th century in a period where sex within marriage was like a household chore, but socially, sex before marriage was like a sin, because society was extremely religious. John Donne is attempting to get these thoughts out of her head and persuade her to have sex with him.

John Donne’s poems are similar in their content. They usually point out at same topics like love, lust, sex and religion; only they are dissimilar in the feelings they express. These subjects reflect the different stages of his life: the lust of his youth, the love of his married middle age, and the piety of the latter part of his life. His poem,’ The Flea’ represents the restless feeling of lust during his youthful days but it comes together with a true respect for women through the metaphysical conceit of the flea as a church in the rhythm of the sexual act.

be seen by the way he uses words like “Had we” and “we would”. This is

In the final stanza the woman kills the flea. Unsurprisingly, the very dramatic Donne labels the death as “cruel and sudden” (3.1). He goes on to say that she has “purpled thy nail, in blood of innocence” (3.2). What he means by this is that the flea has done nothing more than suck her blood, yet she has ended its life. Since the mingling of blood is representative of sex, it implies that the act of sex is

What I understood from both “The Flea” and “To His Coy Mistress” is that there are two speakers who are fancily saying how they wish to make love to the person who they are talking to in odd ways. Both of the poems relate in the personification of bugs taking away a woman’s purity. In “The Flea,” there is personification of the flea taking on multiple roles throughout the poem, but one role is “And this, alas, is more than we would do,” meaning the flea has brought together both of their blood, the closest they would ever be (Donne). While in “To His Coy Mistress,” there is the personification of worms: “then worms shall try That long-preserved virginity” (Marvell).

In term of metaphor, which is the main focus of this paper, the flea is a wonderful example of metaphor which has been extensively used through the poem. The use of the flea arises arguments. The speaker or lover makes use of the flea's presence. This appears in the first stanza where the speaker or lover calls the attention of the lady to the flea which has sucked his blood and hers. He also shows her how their blood is mixed in the flea's body.

has sucked his blood and hers and he is now using this flea as an

In the poem "To His Coy Mistress" in three stanzas the speaker is convincing his female beloved to sleep with him, he says that his lover's "coyness" and doubtfulness would be adequate if they had all the time in the world. The speaker convinces his lady by saying that time is fleeting and in the same manner as all other humans their time will end one day so why not make love now. In the poem "The Flea" in three stanzas the speaker is also convincing his female beloved to sleep with him, he uses a flea as a way to convince his lover that their bodily fluids have already came together. The speaker declares that having sexual intercourse will not be that big of a deal being that their bodily fluids have already came together. Towards the end of the poem the speaker claims that

According to the lecture video, Donne’s Holy Sonnet referred to Donna and God raping Donna. Again, in the Holy Sonnet Donne took sexual elements, and put them in spiritual realms (Lecture Video). I believe this unusual tencqiunce was interesting because he used outlandish and egregious observations to capture the reader’s attention. I enjoyed the portrayal of the poem “the flea” because it declared a dedication to a godly love that rose above the physical love.

The Flea is a delightful example of Donne’s self-assured and finely accomplished application of a bold allegory that instills a flea. This flea is the least likely of romantic figures due to the magnitude and status it carries within society. Donne’s talent to exemplify sexual longing, immorality, sanctified love and holy marriage in a minimal flea before eventually spinning this humorous poem around. The energetic ludicrousness of the self-importance compliments the enthusiastic spirit of them making this poem passionate yet

     In the poem “The Flea” by John Donne, the speaker uses clever sexual innuendo and metaphors in an attempt to manipulate a certain girl into losing her virginity to him. The poem begins with the speaker explaining that a flea has bit both him and her, and now both of

The use of connotative words in this piece is the foundation of this poem and it provides an idea of what this poem is going to be about. In the first stanza he describes the woman as “lovely in her bones,” showing that her beauty is more than skin deep comparing her virtues to a goddess of “only gods should speak.” In the second stanza, the reader can see and feel the love between the two people. The woman taught him how to "Turn, and Counter-turn, and Stand," showing that she was the teacher in the relationship and taught him things he thought he never needed to know. The speaker shows how when they are together, she was “the sickle” and he was “the rake” showing that this woman taught him what love is.