The Flea

Question 1

What type of poem is this? What is the story of this poem?

Answer 1

It is a sensual and humorous poem (a poem of seduction) that makes use of the conceit (extended image) of a flea to explore his relationship with the woman he loves

Question 2

“Mark but this flea, and mark in this,
How little that which thou deniest me is;”
Explain what is happening in the first 2 lines

Answer 2

She is denying him something he craves, which is yet unspecified, but is trivial.

Question 3

____ but this flea, and ____ in this,
How little that which thou ________ me is;

Answer 3

Mark but this flea, and mark in this,
How little that which thou deniest me is;

Question 4

In the first stanza, how does Donne add weight to his argument? Support with quotation.

Answer 4

By using religious imagery (‘sin’, ‘shame’) to add weight to his argument

“Thou know’st that this cannot be said
A sin, nor shame, nor loss of maidenhead,”

Question 5

What is Donne’s argument in the first stanza?

Answer 5

That a intimate and physical relationship is not wrong.

Question 6

What is Donne complaining about (in terms of the flea) in the first stanza? Support with quotation

Answer 6

“Yet this enjoys before it woo,
And pampered swells with one blood made of two,
And this, alas, is more than we would do.”

The flea has already enjoyed more intimacy than himself with this woman, even though it has not had to go through the ritual of courtship

Question 7

“Yet this enjoys before it ___,
And pampered _____ with one blood made of ____,
And this, ____, is more than we would do.”

Answer 7

“Yet this enjoys before it woo,
And pampered swells with one blood made of two,
And this, alas, is more than we would do.”

Question 8

Quote where the blood of the 2 is mingled in the flea

Answer 8

“And in this flea our two bloods mingled be;”

Question 9

“And in this ____ our two bloods _______ be;”

Answer 9

“And in this flea our two bloods mingled be;”

Question 10

In the second stanza, what poetic technique describes the bloating of the parasite with its consumption of the couple’s blood?

Answer 10

The monosyllabic verb, ‘swells’, dramatically describes the bloating of the parasite

Question 11

Why is Donne annoyed with the flea in the 1st stanza?

Answer 11

Although he has played the game of love by the rules, he is a miserable failure.

Question 12

What poetic technique in the 1st stanza emphasizes Donne’s annoyance and frustration with his treatment in the end?

Answer 12

In the final line, the punctuation breaks before and after ‘alas’ emphasise how cruelly he believes he is being treated. This tone here is mock-dramatic

Question 13

What is humorous in the first stanza?

Answer 13

The reader can react with amusement with the insight gained on the poet’s views of his treatment. In the final line and in the use of the punctuation breaks before and after ‘alas’ a mock-dramatic tone is created

Question 14

What does Donne’s argument switch to in the 2nd stanza?

Answer 14

His argument switches as he asks his lover to respect the flea and what it represents

Question 15

“Oh ____, three lives in ___ flea _____,
Where we almost, nay more than _______ are”

Answer 15

“Oh stay, three lives in one flea spare,
Where we almost, nay more than married are.”

Question 16

What is evident in this quote:
Oh stay, three lives in one flea spare,
Where we almost, nay more than married are.

Answer 16

His pleading ton eis evident when he begs for the flea’s life to be spared.

Question 17

State and explain (using quotation) the humour present in the 2nd stanza

Answer 17

Such flamboyant exaggeration strikes a note of homour when he is begging for her to spare the flea’s life, ‘O, stay’

Question 18

What is the contents of the 2nd stanza?

Answer 18

The poet presents an elaborate explanation outlining why the flea should be allowed to live

Question 19

What will happen as a result of the flea’s death? Support with quotation

Answer 19

If killed, it will not only result in the insect’s death, but also the symbolic death of the couple, as their bloods are mingled together in the body of the flea, ‘three lives in one flea spare’

Question 20

“Thou _______ that this cannot be said
a ___, nor ______, nor loss of _____________”

Answer 20

“Thou know’st that this cannot be said
a sin, nor shame, nor loss of maidenhead”

Question 21

This flea is ____ and I, and this
Our mariage ___, and marriage _______ is;

Answer 21

“This flea is you and I, and thi
Our mariage bed, and marriage temple is;”

Question 22

Give the quote from the 2nd stanza, stating that the flea represents the couple and has a religious undertone to it

Answer 22

“This flea is you and I, and thi
Our mariage bed, and marriage temple is;”

Question 23

“Let not to that, ____-_______ added be
And ________, three _____ in killing three.”

Answer 23

“Let not to that, self-murder added be,
And sacrilege, three sins in killing three.”

Question 24

“Let not to that, self-murder added be,
And sacrilege, three sins in killing three.” Explain the quote and argument

Answer 24

She should not kill the poor creatures, for it would be triple murder. She would kill the flea, as well as the poet whose blood it has sucked. It will also be a self-murder which is prohibited by religion. The killing of the flea would be sin and sacrilege; it would be three murders in one.

Question 25

What was suicide seen as in this time?

Answer 25

It was a self-murder which was prohibited by religion

Question 26

And cloistered in these living walls of jet.

Answer 26

And cloistered in these living walls of jet.

Question 27

What is the main religious quote/image in the 2nd stanza?

Answer 27

The lovers are already joined together ‘cloistered in these living walls of jet’.
This striking religious image is typical of Donne, who exaggerates how the flea’s glossy, black body contains the couple’s blood

Question 28

“_____ and sudden, hast thou since
________ thy nail, in blood of __________?”

Answer 28

“Cruel and sudden, hast thou since
Purpled thy nail, in blood of innocence?”

Question 29

Explain the following quote:
“Cruel and sudden, hast thou since
Purpled thy nail, in blood of innocence?
Wherein could this flea guilty be,
Except in that drop which it sucked from thee?”

Answer 29

As the beloved kills the flea, the lover calls her cruel and rash. She has purpled her nails with the blood of the innocent flea. What was the fault of the poor creature, except that it had sucked a drop of her blood?

Question 30

“Wherein could this flea _____ be
Except in that _____ which it _______ from thee?”

Answer 30

“Wherein could this flea guilty be,
Except in that drop which it sucked from thee?”

Question 31

What is the relevance of the ‘three lives in one’ and ‘three sins in killing three’?Expand on this idea and support with quotation.

Answer 31

The ‘three’ is a clear reference to the Christian idea of the holy trinity. The flea is seen as their marriage ‘temple’ which would be ‘sacrilege’ to destroy.

Question 32

Why does the poet see himself as a victim to her callous behaviour?

Answer 32

Although we never hear her speak, we are left with no doubt of her negative reaction to the poet’s persistent pleas.
his real resentment is almost certainly because of the woman’s forceful rejection of his advances.

Question 33

What is the woman’s reaction once she has killed the flea? (use a quote)

Answer 33

“Yet thou triumph’st, and say’st that thou
Find’st not thy self, nor me the weaker now;”

She is triumphant and says that they have lost nothing by the flea’s death

Question 34

What is Donne’s final argument in the last half of the 3rd stanza?

Answer 34

He insists on having the last word by turning her own resistance and argument (they have lost nothing from it’s death) against her.

He wants her to believe that she will lose almost nothing if she were to yield to his sexual advances

Question 35

What is the final resolution of this sensual and erotic poem?

Answer 35

There is no resolution. We do not know if the lover yields to his sexual advances.

Question 36

’Tis true; then learn how _____, _____be:

Answer 36

’Tis true; then learn how false, fears be:

Question 37

Just so much ______, when thou ______ to me,
Will waste, as this flea’s _____ took ____ from thee.

Answer 37

Just so much honor, when thou yield’st to me,
Will waste, as this flea’s death took life from thee.

Question 38

Yet thou _________, and say’st that thou
Find’st not thy ____, nor me the _______ now;

Answer 38

Yet thou triumph’st, and say’st that thou

Find’st not thy self, nor me the weaker now;