The Flea Flashcards
Biographical context
Donne was Dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral 1621-1631. Probably written by Donne as a young man
Metaphysical context
Imperative
Dialogue
Argument
Shifting scale
Hyperbole
Wit
Interrogation
“Mark but this flea, and mark in this”
Imperative
Simplicity of diction
Grabs attention
“thou deniest me”
Dramatic dialogue - gender/power, patriarchal
“It sucked me first, and now sucks thee”
Typographical pun
“Thou know’st that this cannot be said
A sin, nor shame, nor loss of maidenhead”
Maidenhead - no loss of virginity
Argument - link to biographical, Donne and law
Logical statement leading to conclusion - argument furthered through “Yet”
“And this, alas, is more than we would do”
Symbol, unrequited serial desire, makes fun of himself
Second stanza?
Second stanza also has imperative in beginning “stay”
Complex syntax throughout stanza
Sematic field of___?
Semantic field of the marital - “married”, “marriage”
“This flea is you and I”
Shifting scale - lovers compared to a flea
“Our marriage bed, and marriage temple”
Metaphor - physical and spiritual
Unrequited love and link to women
Position of women, men wish to have women
“cloistered in these living walls of jet”
Metaphor
“Cloistered” - locked up in a religious way eg. nuns, monks
“Walls of jet” - body of the flea
Shifting scale - monastery compared to a flea
“Though use make you apt to kill me,
Let not to that, self-murder added be”
Metaphor - in killing the flea, she will kill him and herself - “ temple”
“Three sins in killing three”
Hyperbole
Religious - Holy Trinity
