Explication of John Donnes The Flea Essay -- essays research papers

On the surface, John Donnes poem The Flea dramatizes the conflict between devil people on the issue of premarital sex, however, under the surface, the poem uses religious imagery to seduce the cleaning lady 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 hence far yielded to his lustful desires. The speakers argument has the form of logic, which contradicts to its outrageous content. In the first stanza, the speaker wants his beloved lady to observe a flea and not think of anything else as he delivers his argument. A flea bites the speaker and his beloved causing their blood to mix, which, according to the narrator, is the same as having sex and creating a child. Then, the speaker explains to the woman that this mixing of blood is neither sinful nor shameful, or a loss of the womans maidenhead. He also explains that th ey have conceived a child a through the mixing of blood in the flea. He starts this stanza with a caesura in the middle of the line. For example the first line, Mark but this flea, and mark in this, has a definite pause between the words flea and and. The speaker pauses because he is trying to form some kind logic out of his argument for himself. The oratorical sense of smell of the poem is interwoven throughout all three stanzas with run-on lines, which makes the tempo of the poem seem as if the speaker was not trying to rhyme. Not having a conversational tone in the poem, would take away from some of the intimacy of the words. The reader has to read between the lines and stanzas, because actions take place in the blank spaces between them. We... ...e, lust, marriage, and even conceiving a child at the same level as the importance of a flea, which gives the poem an ironic and satirical tone. This poem showed the pure wit of John Donne. It is intriguing to loo k at, especially for the religious imagery and form. His analogy of killing a flea and having sex, allow him to simplify his argument, which makes this a work of genius. His word choice, form, and pulse all coincided with his major theme. I cannot help but to find this poem hilarious, flirtatious, and less serious than his other works because love, lust, marriage, and conceiving children is nowhere in comparison to a flea or killing one. I think Donne knew this, but through his wit he managed to make the correlation. Works Cited Donne, John. The Flea. The Norton Anthology of British Literature. 7th ed. 2000.