Metaphysical Poetry Revision Pack
Cristelle Spaulding
The Flea
Author: John Donne
Conceit: Donne is comparing the couple’s potential sexual affairs to a flea.
Argument: Donne argues that the woman should have sex with him because the flea
has bitten them and inside the flea, their blood is mingled.This mingling is basically
what happens during sex, meaning that if they had sex, it would be the same thing. He
then tells her not to kill the flea as it would be killing them and their chances of sexual
endeavours.
Themes:
- Sex, gender, marriage (?)
Language:
- “Sucked” and “sucks” has sexual connotations, remember s could often look like
‘f’ and so Donne may be making use of this
- “Thee”- Donne talks to her in the informal
- “In this flea our two bloods mingled be”- this is Donne’s whole argument-
shows old fashioned notion of bloods mingling meaning sex,
- “A sin, nor shame, nor loss of maidenhead”- Donne uses a list of 3 to emphasise
that what he wants is not shameful and therefore she should ignore the
conventional rules for women,
- “Yet this enjoys it before it woo”- belittles the flea with “this” and says that this
small insignificant creature gets you without even trying
- “Pampered swells”- swells connotes erection
- “Three lives in one flea spare”- saying that the flea has 3 lives. Introduces the
motif of the holy trinity
- “Yea more than married are”- Donne said they're more than married as they've
had sex- shows context, marriage means sex
- “The flea is you and I”- he claims that they are one of the same but the “you”
and “I” is separated
- “Our marriage bed”- Donne suggests that he believes that the flea mixing means
they’ve already had sex, and that they have had sex also means they’re married.
Marriage is all about sex to him.
- “Though parents grudge”- shows how parents had a lot of control over marriage
of daughters, and their sexual exploits
- “Self-murder added be… three sins in killing three”- Donne uses fear to stop the
woman from killing the flea as it will kill all of them. Suicide was a sin in this
time.
, Metaphysical Poetry Revision Pack
Cristelle Spaulding
- “Blood of innocence”- he condemns the woman for killing the flea as, although
he basically has their sexual fluids inside it, it is still innocent. Guilt tripping her
into sex
- “How false, fears be”- Donne tells her that her fears of unmarried sex are
irrational.
- “When thou yield’st to me”- He assumes that she will let him have sex with her,
shows inequality of sexes.
- “Waste”- he says she is wasting her sexual anticipation as they both want it. Why
not do it since they are both in need?
Structure:
- Three stanzas symbolises the holy trinity which demonstrates how the woman
is held back by religion
- The first 2 lines set up the argument
- It has rhyming couplets which represents the couple
- All male narration, never hear the female voice
Title:
- The flea suggests it is unconventional as not many people discuss love in terms
of a flea
- Flea’s carry disease and sexual promiscuity is considered a dirty
Context:
- It is a trait of metaphysical poetry to be unconventional
- Donne in his early poetry was a delinquent, before he started following
Christianity
- Demonstrates patriarchal society- men wanting sex, women having to yield
- Sexual promiscuity thought of as a disease due to christian following, hence why
the use of the flea.
, Metaphysical Poetry Revision Pack
Cristelle Spaulding
The Good Morrow
Author: John Donne
Conceit: Donne says two people are one in a relationship throughout the poem
Themes:
- Love, relationships, gender, exploration
Language:
- “What thous and I did, till we loved”- the “thou” and “I” becomes united in their
relationship. They don't know how they survived until they met
- “Sucked on country pleasures”- sexual innuendo, s could be printed like f.
Donne knew this
- “Seven sleepers den”- this is a child’s story, shows how they are matured by love
- “All pleasures fancies bee”- they say that love is their greatest pleasure
- “Dream of thee”- their love is so surreal that it is almost spiritual
- “Watch not one another out of fear”- they are confident that this love won't hurt
them
- “Makes one little room, an everywhere”- their love makes their room the whole
world, they don't need anything else.
- “New worlds” “maps” “worlds on worlds”- theme of exploration, finding each
other is like finding america or exploring the world
- “Let us possess one world; each hath one and is one”- he compares her and
their love to the whole- spiritualised her
- “True plain hearts”- like a cordiform map, exploring each other in their
relationship is like exploring the world
- “Two better hemispheres”- he could be referring to her boobs, saying her boobs
are better than the world
- “Mixed equally”- scientific exploration, saying their love is not going to die
because it is mixed equally- it is reciprocated.
Structure:
- 3 stanzas (holy trinity)
- 7 lines- 7 is the number of perfection, like their love
Form:
- Written in iambic pentameter- this is what the sonnet is written in, it could be a
sonnet but it has too many lines, so therefore it breaks away from the
conventional.
- Irregular rhyme scheme- suggests maybe it isn't as perfect as he makes it out to
be, which can be supported as we never hear the female voice
