'Mark but this flea'
'Mark' is imperative, demanding, sudden opening, characteristic of meta-physical poetry
Flea as a conciet
An elaborate composition between two highly dissimilar thing i.e. uses paradox to see something in an entirely new way, the flea = arguement for seduction
'A sin, nor shame, nor loss of maidenhead,'
Tripling, meter stresses the syllables sin, shame, loss head.
They've been joined inside the flea and nothing bad has happened so they should have sex- no sin or shame!
'Oh stay, three lives in one flea spare,'
'Oh stay' makes the speaker sounds desperate
Flea, me, thee, be, we, three
Cross rhyme throughout the poem, makes it sound repetitive and interlinked. 'EE' sound is whiney gives a desperate tone to the poem and makes the speaker sound childish
AABBCCDDD rhyme scheme
The rhyme scheme makes the speaker seem in control. Also lots of masculine rhymes (ending on a stressed syllable)
'Our marriage bed, and marriage temple is;'
Speaker has moved on to talking about marriage instead of just sex, the flea itself is the marriage bed
'Cloistered in these living walls of jet'
Cloistered- associated with celibacy, jet- used in jewellery, royalty!! Highly blasphemous to considered the church like a flea and as a seduction technique
Sin, shame, temple, cloistered, self-murder, sacrilege, blood of innocence
Religious semantic field, contrasts with sex before marriage, reemphasises if they do have sex it's a sin, could also suggest that religion is right and the speaker is using religion to show that the view that the pair of them having sex is the right thing to do
Alternative opinion; almost emotionally blackmailing her through the flea
An example of this- narrator comes to the conclusion that losing your virginity is no worse than a fleabite, use this to his advantage
3 stanzas- outline the 3 stages of the argument
1. look at the flea2. stops her from killing the flea3.
change of argument after the murder of the fleaLogical argument uses deductive reasoning
'It sucked me first and now sucks thee'
S was often used as a replacement for F in some old age poetry- gives a much dirtier meaning to this line!!!
Summary of the flea
Donne uses the conceit of the flea to seduce a female persona, uses the image of a flea that has just bitten the speaker and his beloved to sketch an amusing conflict over whether the two will engage in premarital sex
Critical opinion, Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch
'The most merely disgusting [poem] in our language'
A.J. Smith
Regards it 'anti-courtly and anti-Petrarchan'
