The Flea Poem Analysis

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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...

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... 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.

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