The Flea John Donne

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.

     Poets have often used symbols to convey deeper messages that they were either too afraid or felt that normal language lacked the power to express. Often when a symbol is used, the reader digs deeper into the issue more than if the message was simply shot out in the open. These symbols and metaphors can be used to portray beautiful things, or could be used to create a more compelling argument in a more subtle way.

The poem then transitions to the post-marriage life of the couple in stanza two. In lines eight through ten, the speaker states that she is too shy around her husband. Not only does she not smile, but also she does not answer her husband when he calls her. This shows that the speaker's life took a great emotional transition, as she is overly shy and feels uncomfortable around him. However, around the middle of the second stanza, the speaker transitions into another stage of

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.

The conceit in “The Flea” is between a flea and unrequited love in the physical aspect. The complexities of this young romance develop the speaker’s argument for a young women to sleep with him. The biting of the flea is compared to having sexual relations with the women. The speaker claims that the flea bite joins them together like sex. Thus, her preserved purity no longer exists because they now have shared the same fluids (blood) inside the flea. He compares the flea’s bite to the joining of souls such as the holy trinity. The speaker try to get the women to see how blown out of proportion her virginity really is and that not that big of a deal.

She seems to be saying that without the pain and the tribulations, a marriage wouldn’t be worth as much. It’s almost like she says that the sacrifices are what makes the marriage worth it. The pain of this marriage results in the ultimate achievement of the objective of marriage. The poem states that all the aches and pains of marriage are worth going through because the love of another is epic.  I found that the two of these poems together were a fascinating combination, because one speaks of the hypocrisy of not doing anything about the flaws in a person’s own characteristics, and the other seems to say to live with the pain that you have to live with the faults; through doing so one will find bliss; it is worth the sacrifice.

Following a unique poetic language of the Renaissance, John Donne's ‘The Flea' is a poem illustrating the metaphor of a flea to represent the sexual act and relations between a man and woman. Portrayed through language, imagery, and structure John Donne's poem is one of conceit and seduction, as the speaker (assumed to be a man) follows a consistent pattern of persuasion to have premarital sex with a woman.

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

The wife chooses to hold onto this doomed marriage even after knowing that her husband has betrayed her. She also knows that their love for each other is essentially a self-created illusion. She tries to maintain a positive image of her husband, from pride and need, and all while in the public eye. “Her pride assuages her almost, as if it were alone the cost”(Stanza 2, line 5-6)

Poetry is not only a brilliant form of expression, but also a powerful tool for persuasion. The renowned metaphysical poet John Donne uses the genre for this very purpose in “The Flea,” a work in which he encourages a young woman to have premarital sex with him. Donne backs his argument by referring to a flea that has sucked his own blood as well as his lover’s. In the first stanza Donne assures the woman that sleeping together would be a minor act. When he says “How little that which thou deniest me is” he promises the woman that the act would be as miniscule as the flea is in size (1.2). Also, by using the word “deniest” he tries to make the women feel a sense of guilt, as if

The flea enjoys the blood and so does the man enjoy foreplay. The pamper'd swells could be that of sexual organs before sex and yet, because that is not happening, the flea is having a better time at the moment than he is, by sucking their blood. I think that by using this comparison, John Donne is being very intellectual and at this point I feel he may win his argument. The second stanza, John Donne becomes weaker as the girl starts to defend herself and he tries to convey his love for her.

However, taking in consideration the time when the poem was written and the cult of domesticity where women were never free and had to answer first to their father and later to their husband, marriage was almost a death sentence

The flea: such a small and insignificant creature to us, often ignored or disregarded. However the flea in John Donne’s poem, The Flea, is used to argue against the religious constraint of sex before marriage. Good morning/afternoon and welcome to my seminar as part of the Poetry Matters forum. Today I will be focusing on the poem, The Flea written by the metaphysical poet John Donne in the late 16th century. Donne utilises literary devices such as conceit, in which a comparison is made between two unusual or unlikely things, and metaphors to combine the flea in the poem with sex to create his theme of seduction.

In ‘The Unfaithful Wife’, sexuality is explicitly shown throughout the poem. It is perceived in a dirty, naughty, and romantic sense, with the way it is written. Its low register gives that feeling of romance and suspense throughout the poem. The speaker of this poem seems to have gained power for herself and is being pleased by another man, who isn’t the one she is married to. She was able to put the fact that she was married behind her and let the man do whatever he pleased, that as well, pleased all of her satisfactions.

Seduction Love is a force that causes people to yearn for the feeling to be one with their lover. A perfect example is the famous love poem The Flea by John Donne. In fact, Donne was able to describe affection in three stanzas. Donne's metaphorical meaning for the flea is the desire of intercourse.