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Conceits in john donne poetry
Sex in john donne's poetry the flea
Metaphysical conceit in Donne's poems
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The Flea: Rhetoric and Poetry Mingling
In John Donne’s poem, “The Flea”, Donne uses the conceit of the flea to contrast the insignificant size of the flea and the incredibly significant metaphor attached to the flea. The speaker of the poem is talking to a woman, trying to convince her into having sex with him outside of marriage. This poem can be broken into three stanzas, of nine lines each, utilizes the image of the flea to convey three main ideas: the first as a vessel where their essence mingles, second as the institution of marriage, and finally as an insignificant representation of honor which would have no effect on them. Donne’s hyperbolic use of the flea extends through the poem as a metaphysical conceit to convey a logical argument out of something seemingly unrelated to the situation at hand.
The speaker starts his argument by first mentioning that the woman has denied the speaker something. However, it is initially unclear what was denied, all that is known is that by taking note of “…this flea, and mark in this,/How little that which [she] deniest [him] is…”, thus paralleling how the flea, just like whatever she denies him, is inconsequential (Donne lines 1-2). This idea of insignificant things meaning much more in the grand scheme of things becomes an underlying thread, which is sewn throughout the poem. The speaker then notes how “…in this flea [their] two bloods mingled be…”, alluding to an erotic mingling of their blood (Donne line 4). This symbolizes the very essence of these two intertwining and becoming one in a single vessel.
The flea is a vessel that symbolizes union, in this case the physical union between the speaker and the woman through sexual intercourse and the exchange of bodily fluids. It is impo...
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... mean nothing in the end. Essentially his argument boils down to proving that sex with the speaker would not be shameful or sinful, and that all her fears are unfounded.
Donne uses the flea throughout his poem as an essential link between sexual conquest and union. The flea transcends its initial existence as an irritating bug and become an existence essential to their union. It is through this representation of the flea, which allows Donne to draw the reader into an argument of carnal desire trumping propriety. The flea is essential to this argument, without which there is nothing grounding the obvious leaps of logic made by the speaker and Donne. The conceit is a popular literary device Donne uses in his poetry, and in this particular case he uses it masterfully throughout the entire poem to create a love poem that straddles the line between poetry and rhetoric.
critique the misogyny and misrepresentations of marriages put forth by male poets, such as John Donne,
Nick Bland’s use of clear illustrations and rhyming text uncovers the story of a very itchy bear who is being bitten by a flea and his intent...
In “The Flea”, Donne attempts to seduce a woman by using a metaphor that suggests that since a flea bit them both, they might as well sleep together. Donne seems to believe that his seduction is a harmless attempt to sleep with this woman, but it is more than that. Donne’s attempt to sleep with this woman is far more than harmless as well as very consistent, he took many steps to seduce her, but his argument is simply not convincing. Although he finds his words so light and innocent, they appear to be full of lies and deceiving.
In the poem “The Flea,” we can already see that the main subject of the poem, the flea, is given more importance than is let on. “Flea” is capitalized, when it could have easily been a lowercase f. This automatically catches the reader’s attention due to the fact that most words that are capitalized are important objects or places; in this case, the flea is a significant object and strangely eno...
Sex is a taboo subject in this day and age to speak about however poet John Donne does not shy away from the topic in his writing. John Donne approaches sex through his poem “The Flea”. “The Flea” published after the death of John Donne in 1663 is known as an erotic metaphysical poem. A poem that focuses on the use of extended metaphors and put emphasis on the words rather than lyrical quality. Even though it contains an unresolved ending, “The Flea” is a lighthearted poem that showcases John Donne uses of creative intelligence of language and tone in the voice of the narrator.
John Donne and his poetry exemplify the type of verse that connects the themes of derisive cosmic forces out of our control, to love, to religion, to paradoxes within the poems, and the theme of fidelity. These themes are evident in “The Flea”, in which the woman kills the flea and the supposed marriage between the man and the woman, “The Hymn to God My God in My Sickness” in which Donne feels he is on the verge of dying, and “The Triple Fool” in which Donne feels depressed after rejecting his love in a sexual manner.
John Donne's, "The Flea," is a persuasive poem in which the speaker is attempting to establish a sexual union with his significant other. However, based on the woman's rejection, the speaker twists his argument, making that which he requests seem insignificant. John Donne brings out and shapes this meaning through his collaborative use of conceit, rhythm, and rhyme scheme. In the beginning, Donne uses the flea as a conceit, to represent a sexual union with his significant other. For instance, in the first stanza a flea bites the speaker and woman. He responds to this incident by saying, "And in this flea our bloods mingled be."
The two poems The Flea and The Sunne Rising capture John Donne’s primary motive to get in bed with women. Donne wrote these poems at an early age, and at that time he was seeking nothing more than a sexual relationship. His poetry depicted clearly how sexist he was at the time and how he used to perceive women as a medium of pleasure. The content of his early poems express an immature and desperate image of Donne, who is dominated by his fixation on the sensuality of women. In The Flea, Donne shows his desperation to have sex by addressing a flea that has sucked the blood of both him and the woman he is persuading. It is quite awkward how the poet uses this obscure image of the flea as a symbol of love and sex to convince the woman that...
Donne opens his poem immediately building the man’s sex argument, drawing obvious attention to the comparison between sex and this symbolic flea through several examples. In line 1, the narrator dramatically draws attention to his argument: “Mark but this flea, and mark in
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.
Many people debate whether Donne's metaphysical style of verse is genuinely contemplative comparison or merely eccentric imagery. However, if one looks deep enough into the witty his witty works such as, "The Sun Rising," or "The Flea," they will find evidence to support both views. It has been said of Donne's love poetry that it was "losing itself at times in the fantastic and absurd" (Grierson 25). By using his unusual conceits, or far-fetched metaphors, John Donne utilizes his remarkable ability to draw a wistful sigh of love from any reader while shocking and twisting brain cells at the same time. It is this innovative method of combining such passion and great intellect that entices poets like T. S. Eliot to imitate him and others like Samuel Johnson to criticize him.
As readers, what we learn from Donne is that we should embrace our differences, rise above the hatred, and live our lives full of compassion, empathy, and hope. Upon reading this poem, I revel in his youthful aspirations and laugh at his ridiculously outlandish attempts. This piece, in particular, shows the happy, softer side of Donne. I thoroughly enjoyed reading The Flea. It inspired images of two swordfighters engaged in combat, the fancy footwork from said swordfight, and the point and counter-point of each blow of the sword as it hits the other fighter. Even though the lady never actually speaks, I sense she is just as witty and humorous as the speaker himself. She starts on the moral high ground, much higher ground than the speaker, stands for her beliefs, and, hopefully in the end, she does not give into his ridiculous attempts to woo her. That being said, the lady both intrigues and delights the reader at the same time. As the reader, you want to know who the woman is, is she of higher social rank than the speaker, and in what environment does this exciting and illicit conversation take place. One can almost hear her soft yet, respectful sighs of indifference and see the look of utter hopelessness on her face as she politely listens and responds to the speaker. In some ways, because of her steadfastness she becomes the heroine of the
The woman, if only reading stanza one, would think her and the speaker are in total agreement. This idea, however, is fleeting as stanza two acts not only as a refutation for stanza one, but also as evidence for stanza three.... ... middle of paper ... ... The satire exists in the expectation that love has to occur before sex.
Donne uses two metaphors to explain just how he and his wife remain united when they are apart. In lines 13-16, Donne describes "dull sublunary lover's love." The poet say...
In the first stanza of the poem, the speaker develops similarities between the fleabite and lovemaking. The first two lines of the poem, “Mark but this flea, and mark in this, How little that, which thou deny’st me, is;” I interpreted to mean that the woman doesn’t deny the flea access to her body, yet she denies the advancements of the speaker. Next the speaker uses conceit to illustrate the similarities between their lovemaking and the mingling of their blood within the flea. “Me is sucked first, and now sucks the, An in this flea our two bloods mingled be.” The speaker uses this argument to show the woman that the same physical exchange, which t...