An Analysis of Poet John Donne's Incredibly Sexual The Flea

John Donne's "The Flea" is a complex (and absolutely hilarious) view into the life, rhetoric and amazing persuasive skills of a young man as he tells his would-be lover, with all seriousness, why she should sleep with him. With a serious overtone (and very funny undertone), Donne uses a skilled combination of tone, connotative words and double meaning, imagery, figurative language and musical devices to take the reader into the conversation of the two lovers, where, horrifyingly, the argument posed is so clever that a girl might almost be convinced to let the speaker have his way.

Donne uses the first-person point of view of the young man to relay the ongoing conversation between him and his girlfriend. The tone, at first, seems almost conversational, discussing a seemingly innocent flea; however, as the poem progresses, the tone becomes that of a skilled master of logic and rhetoric. The reader, through this seemingly intelligent argument, is taken into the lives of the lovers and, if not careful, becomes increasingly convinced that the speaker has the right of it: to sleep together would be no more than the mingling of their blood within the flea, and that by denying him she is, in fact, denying herself with her false honor.

The use of connotative words and very naughty double meanings in sprinkled throughout the 27 lines of the poem. In the first stanza, the speaker states that, "How little that which thou deniest me is" (2), referring not to what she is denying the flea, but what she is denying him by refusing his advances. The speaker goes on to say, "Me it sucked first, and now sucks thee" (3), making the repetition of "suck" and the sexual connotation quite clear. He further states that, "And pampered swells with one blood made of two" (8), which could be meant as a pregnancy or could even refer to the male genitalia.

In the second stanza, he intimates that they are, in fact, married within the walls of the flea and states that, "we are met, / And cloistered in these living walls of jet" (14,15), using the religious term of "cloistered" as an incredibly erotic reference to the bond that sexual intimacy can bring to them and that, in fact, lives in the flea. He goes even further to say, "Though use make you apt to kill me" (16), referring to the habit of actually killing the flea; however, "kill," in this sense, could also be used as a sexual suggestion, as "killing" and "death" at this time was another term for physical love. The speaker goes on to say that killing the flea would be self-murder, and, in an allusion to the loss of virginity, states that she has, "Purpled thy nail in the blood of innocence" (20). The entire poem is filled with rich double entendres and such blatant sexual connotations that the reader cannot help but admire the man for his sheer will and determination in getting this woman to bed!

Donne's use of connotative words and double meaning is interwoven with vivid images that allow the reader to become part of the poem. He uses visual imagery in describing the flea sucking both their blood, and then the blood intermingling within the flea. When the blood does swirl together in the flea, it "pampered swells" with their blood, bring to mind the very vivid visual image of a pregnant woman as well as an erect male member. His visual imagery goes on to describe the inside of the flea as the would-be lovers' marriage bed and temple, and gives the reader an unexpected and distinct picture of the inside of the flea; a romantic, private and beautiful place, where the two lovers can meet without the dissention of parents or the outside world. Donne also gives the reader a clear view of the death of the flea, when the woman has, "Purpled thy nail in blood of innocence" (20).

Donne interweaves metaphors throughout the imagery of the poem, basing the entire premise of the poem on the fact the their love is contained in the flea. The flea itself is compared to a marriage bed and temple, and a cloistered hideaway where the lovers can be safe. He compares the intermingling of blood within the flea to the sexual act itself, and only changes this conviction when, after the flea has come to an untimely demise, points out to the woman that the "death" (a blatant sexual reference) has certainly not made them any weaker, and that her refusal is really just denying herself. The entire poem is a conceit, and in that sense, has a definite(if ridiculous) logic.

Donne's poem is an elaborate mix of iambic tetrameter and pentameter, and has a well-patterned rhyme scheme within each stanza, rhyming the first two lines, the second two lines, the third two lines, and the last three lines. He sprinkles internal rhyme throughout the poem, bringing a lyrical quality that makes the poem effortlessly readable and bringing a level of sophistication and validity to such a ridiculous argument.

"The Flea" is a classic poem in the metaphysical sense; it has two heterogeneous ideas (the flea and sex between the two lovers) quite violently yoked together. It is satirical and witty, and was written in the private tradition, capturing the bond and interaction between the speaker and his unwilling mistress. It is quite daring, with an energy and conviction that is very convincing.

Donne's use of tone, connotation, imagery, figurative language, musical device and metaphysical idea make "The Flea" a poem that shocks, amuses, and nearly convinces. With his last lines, "'Tis True; then learn how false fears be: / Just so much honor, when thou yield'st to me, / Will waste, as this flea's death took life from thee (25-27), he turns the entire argument back on his love, making her refusal seem completely wasted and frivolous. This poem captures a man's power of conviction when sex is involved and brings the reader into the bedroom with him. "The Flea" is a funny, persuasive example of rhetorical genius that uses literary tools to bring a new face to the age-old dialogue of man versus woman (especially when said man is trying to lure said woman into bed). It is because of Donne's mastery of these tools that the poem lingers on, bringing it to mind whenever a man chasing a woman comes into sight.

Works CitedAbrams, M.H, ed. The Norton anthology of English Literature, 7^th edition. New York:W.H. Norton & Company, 2000.