John Donne's Poetry Quotations Flashcards
What themes make up John Donne’s The Flea?
Metaphysical Poetry, Eroticism, Hedonism and Sex, The Humours and the Body, Marriage, Petrarchan sentiment and elements
Summarise John Donne’s The Flea
The Flea is an erotic metaphysical poem in which the flea acts as conceit and extended metaphor for sex. The poem ends with the speaker’s lover killing the flea, and so, dismissing the speaker’s advances.
How does John Donne open The Flea?
‘Mark but this flea […] It sucked me first, and now sucks thee / And in this flea, our two bloods mingled be;’
What does John Donne say about swelling in The Flea?
‘And pampered swells with one blood made of two’
What does John Donne say about three lives in The Flea?
‘Oh stay, three lives in one flea spare, / Where we almost, nay more than married are.’
What does John Donne say about murder and sacrilege in The Flea?
‘Let not to this, self murder added be, / And sacrilege, three sins killing three.’
What does John Donne say about a purple nail in The Flea?
‘Cruel and sudden, hast thou since / Purpled thy nail, in blood of innocence?’
What does the flea represent in John Donne’s The Flea?
The flea itself is used as a metaphor and vehicle for the speaker to convey their erotic persuasion throughout the first half of the poem.
What drives the speaker in John Donne’s The Flea?
The speaker’s hedonistic motivation drives the poem. Also, a layer of selfishness is added as the speaker is motivated by his own sexual pleasure.
Why is the Humours and the Body a significant theme in John Donne’s The Flea?
The frequent references to the body and bodily fluids - such as blood ‘mingling’. And the use of the word ‘swell’ which has phallic references.
Why is Marriage a significant theme in John Donne’s The Flea?
Because the inclusion of marriage references add an element of divine justification which somewhat make his actions permissible and okay.
Why is Petrarchan Elements a significant theme in John Donne’s The Flea?
The poem is a quintessential petrarchan poem, however, the speaker’s persistence is desperate and creepy - unrelenting.
What are the three themes that make up John Donne’s The Indifferent?
Hedonism and Pleasure, Metaphysical Poetry, and Cynicism
Summarise John Donne’s The Indifference
The poem discusses the speaker’s indifference towards women, he expresses that he likes women of every different colour, shape…etc. Women’s sole purpose is to create pleasure for a man. The male speaker makes the woman aware that is not only men who enter into solicited relationships - women do it too, and they are just as guilty.
How does John Donne open The Indifferent?
‘I can love both fair and brown, / Her whom abundance melts, and her whom want betrays, / Her who loves loneness best, and her who masks and plays,’
What does John Donne say about loving women in The Indifferent?
‘I can love her, and her, and you and you,’
What does John Donne say about vice in The Indifferent?
‘Will no other vice content you? / Will it not serve your turn to do, as your mothers?’
What does John Donne say about truth in The Indifferent?
‘But I have told them, “Since you will be true / You shall be true to them, who are false to you.”’
What four themes make up John Donne’s The Canonization?
Love and Petrarchan elements, Irony and Wit, Metaphysical Poetry, and Immortalisation
