I can’t help but read John Donne’s poem “The Flea” without chuckling to my self. We’ve all seen it; half of us have probably done it. It’s that same old story, boy meets girl, boy decides girl is Ms. Right or Ms. Right-now, boy spends his paycheck trying to convince girl to go home with him. It’s a modern day classic and it gets old fast. But when you read about a renowned poet doing what is ostensibly the same thing, it puts a new light on the story.
The speaker spends the first two stanza’s attempting to convince his beloved to sleep with him. He seems to know he is fighting a losing battle and so, grasping at straws, he reaches for the closest thing to them, a flea. “Mark but this flea, and mark in this./How little which thou deniest me is;” Donne is trying to tell his beloved that what they want to do is no big deal, it is in fact already happening on a much smaller scale within the body of the flea. “Me it sucked first, and now sucks thee,/And in this flea out two bloods mingled be;” The lovers blood has become one in the container of the flea, much as the speaker wishes the lovers themselves to become one within the confines of the bedroom. There is no “sin, or shame, or loss of maidenhead,” in what is happening in the flea, so how can their premarital sex be anything approaching a sin?
The beloved moves to kill the pest (the flea, not the speaker) and the speaker attempts to forestall her by claiming that if she were to kill the flea she would be committing three sin, destroying him, her, and the life of the flea. The speaker claims that the union of their blood is more sacred than marriage. “Where we almost, nay more than married are./This flea is you and I, and this/our marriage bed and marriage temple is;” This is the most interesting sequence in the poem as it takes two ideas which at first seem entirely opposite and puts them together to create a beautiful union. The ideas of premarital sex and a marriage in the eye of God and all that these two consider holy seem to contradict themselves. However Donne transforms them into one and the same. With out using any of the overly flowery language of his predecessors, Donne makes one of the most beautiful statements about love. And he does so inside of a FLEA. That is impressive.
In the end the beloved does kill the flea and so the speaker, like any guy who is sharp on his toes, switches gears. From claiming how sacred the flea is he suddenly views her killing it to be sinless and by relation, their having sex would be entirely sinless. Donne’s goal is to satiate his own lust and he uses his skill as a wordsmith in an effort to do so. The fact that such beautiful language is used to hide a thoroughly base and human desire is fascinating to me as it simultaneously makes Donne more interesting and more relatable
After reading your rumination it really opened my eyes to just how deep this poem really is. When first reading this poem i didn't realize how in depth and secretive his way of wording this poem was. After reading your post i went back and read the poem again and totally agree with everything you said. The poem at first sounds beautiful and sinless, however what Donne is really trying to say is actually a little bit on the inappropriate and very sexual. Great post!
ReplyDeleteThis post is hilarious because it is so entirely accurate. As a college girl, I think I speak for the multitudes when I say I have heard EVERY line in the book, but Donne's use of a flea in his attempts to woo his "beloved" into bed is certainly unique. It almost makes me wish more men read Donne's poetry, because then I could laugh at their wit instead of just as how pathetically far out there they put themselves. On a more concrete note, I love the way you use the text to support your argument - you cite applicable lines and then explain them concisely, which is always something I personally struggle with when writing ruminations. I think you're dead on about Donne; the fact that he takes such a worn out and overplayed situation and completely revamps it adds intrigue to his writing as a 21st century reader. To also discover that all guys truly are the same (pardon the generalization) across the boundaries of centuries reveals a deeper layer to literature as an art form.
ReplyDeleteI have to say, I enjoyed this as well. The title just drew me in! As said above, your rumination shows a different perspective than I thought of and your choice of text to back it up was very good!
ReplyDeleteI too found it very interesting that the author chose to use the image of a flea as the main source of sexual imagery in the poem. I have seen authors refer to tigers or rabbits (tigers to show prowess and agression - which can be taken sexually. rabbits to show reproduction and lust) but I have never before seen someone use a mite/bug as an image of sex. That being said, I dont think the flea ONLY represents sex, but rather seems to comment on relationships in general (the speaker makes it seem as if his own life, the life of the flea, and his relationship with the woman ass rest on the flea itself).
ReplyDeleteI am glad you chose to write about this. Great rumination!
Your rumination was great! The title really drew me in. The first time I read this poem I really didn't think much of it. I love when a rumination makes me want to go back to a poem and look for more. It's kind of like a scavenger hunt. Needless to say, after another read, I completely agree with everything you said!
ReplyDeleteVery well done!
I really liked how you drew a parallel between Donne's poem and today's society. What you said above is definitely true and this situation has been going on for years. I agree with you that it is extremely impressive that Donne was able to use a flea and his eloquent language to try and convince his beloved to sleep with him. You gotta give it to him, he is creative! Your post makes some really great points and I definitely enjoyed reading it.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first read Donne's metaphor of the flea, it kinda grossed me out. How does he think he's going to get her in bed by talking about a blood-sucking bug? But the way you described the metaphor it does make it seem more romantic. Yet in the back of my head a still think, "Really Donne? A bug. You have no chance." Did he really have any chance of winning that fight using a flea as a metaphor?
ReplyDeleteI had a very similar reaction to you when trying to understand this poem. However, our opinions of the narrator are much different. I had a feeling when doing my second-pass that it was the narrator's plan the whole time to use the flea as proof that sex is not sinful. I do not believe that he changed gears as you said. Great post!
ReplyDeleteGreat post! Such an interesting comparison, and I enjoyed reading not only your rumination but the above comments. I had to laugh at Becca's comment, as I thought the same thing. When one thinks of love, a flea is hardly the first thing to come up. However, if you look at the footnote on the page, it notes that many poets during the time saw the flea as a more sexual theme. Like you said, the flea's actions are seen simply as a smaller scale of what would occur between the lovers.
ReplyDeleteHaha, I agree with you and the other comments above! It was really fun to read your blog post-Somtimes when reading these poems, we can get lost in the old language and use of words and illiteration. Sometimes it is difficult to get the big picture, but your post definitly gave me a different perspective!
ReplyDeleteGreat twist on your rumination! I enjoyed that you went further from just analyzing the text to relating it to modern society. The entire momentum of the poem resembles sex as well. There is a slow building of love leading up to a quick finale of the killing of the flea.
ReplyDeleteTotally agree with all of this, and especially love yr turn of phrase here: "grasping at straws." It's a testament to Donne's poetic ability; you can imagine him looking at absolutely anything in the room and then shifting its meaning to fit his poetic/romantic will.
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