Having sex is no different the speaker argues and no more dishonorable.

John donne poem the flea background. It sucked me first and now sucks thee and in this flea our two bloods mingled be. As the flea is living creature and so is man it doesn t matter about the size as both the deeds would be committed by living beings. The image of the flea is john donne s main vehicle for conveying his message. The poem uses the conceit of a flea which has sucked blood from the male speaker and his female lover to serve as an extended metaphor for the relationship between them.

However her gestures and attitudes are brought out by references to them on the part of the lover. Poems summary and analysis of the flea the speaker uses the occasion of a flea hopping from himself to a young lady as an excuse to argue that the two of them should make love. The flea is an erotic metaphysical poem by john donne. Thou know st that this cannot be said.

The flea by john donne. Around the time this poem was written in europe the flea was a popular representation of unbridled erotic expression. However john donne uses his words carefully and never shows any obscenity even when he discusses about private matters such as sex. Through a complex metaphysical conceit the speaker describes being bitten by a flea that also bit his lover.

Alongside a valediction forbidding mourning this poem is one of john donne s best remembered. A sin nor shame nor loss of maidenhead. In the flea the speaker tries to seduce his mistress with a surprising and potentially gross extended metaphor. Donne s poem is composed of three stanzas of nine lines.

The reason for this was that the flea travels around sucking blood from various people or mistresses. The speaker tries to convince a lady t. Donne s poetry is marked by strikingly original departures from the conventions of 16th century english verse particularly that of sir philip sidney and edmund spenser. Although having one s soul speak to another is a beautiful thing john donne s speaker eventually decides that they need to communicate physically.

The lover is the speaker and the beloved is the silent listener. The exact date of its composition is unknown but it is probable that donne wrote this poem in the 1590s when he was a young law student at lincoln s inn before he became a respected religious figure as dean of st paul s cathedral. So he asks her again to yield to his requests. The first six lines in each stanza are made from three rhyming couplets while the last three lines of each is a triplet.

The flea is a poem by the english poet john donne most likely written in the 1590s. Both he and she have been bitten by the same flea meaning their separate blood now mingles inside the flea s body. Their pure souls are speaking though trying to work out what comes next. Since 17th century society viewed sex as the mingling of bloods the flea s bloodsucking nature had huge possibilities as a risqué metaphor.

The flea is a dramatic lyric. Mark but this flea and mark in this how little that which thou deniest me is.

• The Winding Stair And Other Poems