John Donne The Flea

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In “The Flea” by John Donne is a convincing poem that seems to be about a

young man trying to persuade a girl to give her virginity to him and he does this by

comparing the situation to that of a flea. In the first stanza the flea bites them both

and he explains to her that this is symbolic of both of their worlds combining into

one. He then begins to tell her that the flea is their symbol of love, lust, and union.

When first reading the poem it seems to be more about the man and his lustful

thoughts of the girl and convincing her of his sexual desires to be met. He states,

Mark but this flea, and mark in this,

How little that which thou deniest me is;

It sucked me first, and now sucks thee,

And in this flea our two bloods …show more content…
Comparing intercourse to the flea bite by mixing blood in the flea, Donne is making a

mockery of sexual morality by dismissing it. The flea also represents a world where

their love can be perfect and brash. Knowing this about the flea we see that

Donne uses the flea as an extended metaphor being related to multiple meanings as

well as one the reader can easily relate to outside of the poem that premarital sex is

known as something filthy and unholy. In a predominantly patriarchal society men

always expect women to be sexually willing and the speaker of the poem has no

problem with expressing his opinion that the loss of her virginity before marriage is

not a sin although society deemed so but it is an example of the pressure he has

placed on her despite her morals.

Lastly, using the literary terms that we have learned there is personification in the poem when speaking of the flea when referring to its human like emotions as seen in line 7. The rhyme scheme is aabbccddd throughout the entire poem. I

believe that this pattern is in relation to the male’s persistence as he continues to

demand his requests for the woman’s intimacy in the poem. Donne has done
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