The Flea Poem Analysis

661 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Flea metaphor in Donne's flea

Can a flea truly be just a flea or is it something more? Can it be used to represent a bigger picture? Is the speaker really just trying to achieve the lady, or is there a secret behind it all? In “The Flea,” by John Donne, he purposes some of these questions. This essay will answer all of the previously stated questions through the use of figurative language, form of the poem, and the diction. The figurative language will be used to show how the flea is a metaphor. The form of the poem will connect the rhyme scheme to an ironic twist. The diction in the poem will express how the use of words can change the meaning of the poem entirely.
To begin with, figurative language always is insightful to what a poem might be attempting to say. Donne uses the flea, sex, and marriage all as one. He personifies the flea to be something of significance. He uses the flea in metaphors about sex, marriage, and especially religion. The blood inside the flea is said to the marriage between the speaker and the young maiden. Therefore it is okay for her to go to bed with him. The use of the figurative language is what tells the reader that the speaker wants to take the maiden to bed because he never really says, “Hey let’s go make love to each other.” Also the death of the flea is the death of his chances with the maiden, yet he continues with one last attempt to get her to bed. So is the meaning of the poem only that which to laugh because he tries to pick up a lady with flea metaphors? The first being that of the obvious one which is just to poke fun at a man who tries to lay down with a women by using a flea. Or is the figurative languages telling an underlining meaning that is too never underestimate someone who wants something? Perhaps it is te...

... middle of paper ...

... not only killed the flea, but also him, her, and their supposed marriage. So the diction helps to conclude how the speaker intends the flea to be used to get to the maiden.
In conclusion, “The Flea” by John Donne has only so many ways to be interpreted. So is there really more than one meaning behind “The Flea.” The answer to the question is no. No matter how hard the poem is deciphered it is just about a man trying to get a woman in bed. Which makes it a funny poem not a serious one. This is developed through the figurative language will be used to show how the flea is a metaphor. The form of the poem will connect the rhyme scheme to an ironic twist. The diction in the poem will express how the use of words can change the meaning of the poem entirely. So in the end a poem about a flea is just a poem about a flea even if the flea is considered a marriage with it.

Show More
Related

  • Examples Of Distinctive Voices In Shawshank

    789 Words  | 2 Pages

    The lady seems to be poor “suffering along in her broke shows” tells us that she has nothing and is worthless. Emotive language has been used to visually describe how she looks. “with a sack of bones on her back and a song in her brain” this expresses that she in a free, happy minded lady and doesn’t really take note of what she doesn’t have. " to feed the outlaws prowling about the Domain” This tell us that she most likely does this act of kindness very often, not having much at all and simple giving the outlaws something to feed on. “proudly they step up to meet her” Giving this visual effect makes us understand the power this lady has for these feral cats and to also see how much this lady means to this cats. “with love and power” - juxtaposition, again shows us the emotive language between the two this also means that she has a sense of power which she doesn’t have with the outer world. This perception of the lady is very different as to what how we see her. She is to be seen as a person who you wouldn’t want so associate with. Throughout the poem she has been moved from a princess to a queen with the development of metaphors. But to the cats she is the queen and this really depicts the distinctively visual. Douglas Stewart is seeing her as this queen who is celebrated and appreciated by the cats but this is not how she feels with society. With this connection between the cats, it gives us a deeper understanding of how to perceptions of each individual sees the world. Every individual has their own sense of views of the

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast A Rose For Emily And To His Coy Mistress

    1692 Words  | 4 Pages

    Using this choice of words like “then worms shall try” and “…turn to dust”, the speaker essentially tells his mistress that there will be consequences if she does not engage with him. He believes his wit will gain control over his mistress, and her “coyness” will inevitably disappear. In his mind, the repercussions are if she dies without having sex with him, the worms will take her virginity, which can be considered as phallic imagery. In the lines, the worms symbolically mirror the narrator’s male sexual organ. Marvell creates an interesting approach with this daring and disturbing language because the appealing strategy grasps the reader’s attention and explores the question of the extent a person will go to fulfill their sexual desires. While discussing this proposed tight-lipped subject, the tone of the narrator in “To His Coy Mistress” greatly differs from the narrator’s tone in “A Rose for Emily.” The readers can perceive that Marvell’s speaker is intelligent and informed in the sexual category because of his style and word choice. He creates a relaxed tone with his audience, which makes the readers feel comfortable, and he is very clear about what he writes. The direction of the arguments he makes is very undeviating because he goes straight into what he wants

    Read More

  • Analysis of The Fish by Elizabeth Bishop

    976 Words  | 2 Pages

    The first element to analyze when looking at “The Fish” is figurative language. The reader is drawn to this element because of its heavy emphasis throughout the poem. Elizabeth Bishop profusely uses similes with the intention of heightening the sensation of fishing. She writes:

    Read More

  • Analysis of Flea by John Donne

    426 Words  | 1 Pages

    The narrator in The Flea is a youthful man trying to convince a young woman to give her virginity to him. He tries to do this by comparing their relationship to a flea that is in the room. The flea bites them both and Donne explains to her that this is symbolic of both of their worlds combining into one. He says that the flea is now the realm of love, lust, and marriage. At first this poem seems to be just about love, commitment from a male to a female, who says no his lustful desires. However, a deeper look than just the superficial reveals that the male in this poem is actually revealing a valid point to his lady: that the loss of innocence, such as her virginity, does not constitute a loss of her honor.

    Read More

  • Literary Uses Of Seduction In Donne's As 'The Flea'

    1496 Words  | 3 Pages

    At the threat of demise, the speaker states “This flea is you and I, and this/Our marriage bed, and marriage temple is” (12-13). A union is created and through the three of them, it is seen as a correlation to the holy trinity with God being replaced by the flea. Even though the woman does not seem inclined to spare the flea, Donne furthers his argument with the mixing of their blood allowing for an unmistakable union without societal norms or scandal. Since the flea can hop from one host to the other without commitment, so can we have a little romp in the hay without the pressures of marriage and life ever after. Through the third stanza, we find that the woman has killed the flea and therefore quelled any chance of a sexual union between the speaker and his quarry. He has failed once again to gain her favor and seal the deal. While the flea may have been able to take her blood without seduction, the speaker finds excitement in the challenge to live and woo another day.

    Read More

  • Explication of John Donne's The Flea

    406 Words  | 1 Pages

    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."

    Read More

  • The Flea By John Donne Analysis

    854 Words  | 2 Pages

    In this close reading, I will be analyzing “The Flea” by John Donne. “The Flea” is a love sonnet that uses a flea as a reason for the writer and the woman to get together. The poem interchanges rhythmically between iambic tetrameter and iambic pentameter, ending with two pentameter lines at the close of each stanza. Each stanza consists of nine lines. The rhyme scheme is in couplets rhyming, AABBCCDDD.

    Read More

  • The Flea and The Sun Rising

    1643 Words  | 4 Pages

    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...

    Read More

  • Breaf Analysis of Poems by Robert Frost

    2253 Words  | 5 Pages

    3. The first stanza has an observative tone to it. The narrator is telling their observation of a spider, plant, and a moth. The tone turns cynical in the third line where the narrator describes the moth as a “rigid satin cloth.” It describes its fragility when compared to a satin cloth but the rigidness conflicts with it frailty as well. The second simile that compares the subjects of the poem to a witches’ broth turns into a disgusting connotation.

    Read More

  • Comparison of how The Flea and To His Coy Mistress Present and Develop the Poets' Arguments

    2016 Words  | 5 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Persuasive Tone of The Flea

    769 Words  | 2 Pages

    First of all, the situation created by Donne is remarkable. Although there is only one speaker in "The Flea," the poem itself reveals a profound interaction between speaker and audience. Here is an example: "Mark but this flea, and mark in this," (line 1) and "Oh stay, three lives in one flea spare," (line 10). In line one, the poet asked his coy mistress to notice a flea and explain that the flea symbolized the combination of their love. Whereas, when the poem goes on to the first line of the second stanza, the lady ignores Donne's enthusiasm by intending to slay the flea. From the two lines, it shows the female's emotional reaction to Donne's persuasion, which provokes his urge by applying poetic device in the poem.

    Read More

  • Critical Analysis Of Donne's 'To His Mistress Going To Bed'?

    1068 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Donne’s poems, particularly his early love poems Donne explains how love involving the body aids the soul in gaining redemption from God. This perspective may be observed in Donne’s poem, To His Mistress Going to Bed, which is centered on the events leading up to a couple’s sexual union. More specifically, the speaker says, “unlace yourself, for that harmonious chime tells me from you, that now ‘tis your bed time” (10). In other words, the speaker aims to persuade his lover to join him in bed. Donne further conveys, through the speaker, that sexual union is the union of the souls, “as souls unbodied, bodies unclothed must be, to taste whole joys” (33). Though Donne too uses erotic, sexual language to describe love’s effect on an individual’s

    Read More

  • Poetry Analysis - The Fish

    668 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Fish is a narrative monologue composed for 76 free-verse lines. The poem is constructed as one long stanza. The author is the speaker narrating this poem. She narrates a fishing experience. The author is out in a rented boat on a body of water, presumably a lake. She tries to describe the fish to the fullest, which appears to be the purpose of the poem, without saying either the specie or an approximate age. The narration gives the impression that the fish is slightly old. There are a number of reasons as to why that fish got caught by the author, including time of day, the weeds weighing it down, fish’s age, and the fact that it has been previously caught five times.

    Read More

  • John Donne The Flea Tone

    1160 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Idea of Love in Sonnet 18 and Good Morrow by William Shakespeare and John Donne

    875 Words  | 2 Pages

    John Donne and William Shakespeare are each notorious for their brilliant poetry. William Shakespeare is said to be the founder of proper sonnets, while John Donne is proclaimed to be the chief metaphysical poet. Each poet has survived the changing centuries and will forever stand the test of time. Although both John Donne and William Shakespeare share a common theme of love in their poems, they each use different tactics to portray this underlying meaning. With a closer examination it can be determined that Donne and Shakespeare have similar qualities in their writing.

    Read More

More about The Flea Poem Analysis

Open Document