Lecture notes
The Flea (John Donne)
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- CCEA
A2 Unit 1-John Donne notes
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By: jessicapope03 • 2 year ago
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The FleaFORM AND STRUCTURE
- The poem is made up of 3 stanzas which are used to describe an unfolding scenario
- The 3 stanzas follow a logical, dialectical structure. Throughout the stanzas there is a
development of an argument with a clear progression of thought and ideas. This
dialectical structure is a feature of much 17th Century verse and metaphysical verse.
- The poem has a regular rhyme scheme- it is made up of rhyming couplets and a
rhyming triplet. The regularity of the rhyme scheme gives the poem a degree of
levity and sets the light-hearted, ironic tone of the poem
- Most of the lines are iambic tetrameter however the rhythm is not always regular
- The tone of the poem is highly ironic, dramatic and absurdly amusing.
LANGUAGE AND IMAGERY
Subject of the Poem
- 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. The speaker tries to convince a woman to have sex with him, arguing that if
their blood mingling in the flea is innocent, then sexual mingling would also be
innocent. His argument hinges on the belief that blood mixes during sexual
intercourse.
- The speaker is presented as audacious, irreverent, lecherous and almost
disrespectful to the female subject
- In Verse 1, the poet explains the concept of their blood mingling in the fly, to show
how innocuous such mingling can be
- In Verse 2, just as the woman is about to kill the fly, the speaker stops her; telling her
that their sacred union is in this fly
- In Verse 3, the woman kills the fly to show her contempt for him. Although the
speaker feigns outrage, this is what he wanted her to do. He tells her that killing the
flea did not really impugn his beloved’s honour and despite the high-minded and
sacred ideals she has invoked in refusing to sleep with him, doing so would not
impugn her honour either.
- Throughout the poem, the poet subverts the Petrarchan and traditional love poetry.
While Petrarchan poetry aimed to flatter and compliment a lover, Donne’s poetry
(and other metaphysical poetry) argues and appeal’s to their intellect
Context
- The flea analogy was not a unique idea of Donne’s; rather it was an idea that was
used in comic poetry
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