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"THE FLEA."   Term Paper ID:28404 Click to get this paper Essay Subject: Detailed analysis of John Donne's poem of arguments presented by man courting a woman.... More... 4 Pages / 900 Words 1 sources, 0 Citations, APA Format $16.00 Return to List of Papers Paper Abstract: Detailed analysis of John Donne's poem of arguments presented by man courting a woman. Paper Introduction: John Donne's "The Flea" presents the clever arguments of a man who wants a woman to become his mistress. The poem consists of a dismissal of her scruples in which the speaker rates the entire act -- as well as its moral implications and its consequences -- as having little more importance than the actions and life of a lowly flea. There are, however, layers of irony in this apparent nonsense. The speaker devotes a great deal of ingenuity to the exposition of his argument and the amount of effort he puts into it belies everything he says about the relative unimportance of her objections. In addition, however, the effort he puts into devising this facetious argument is also meant to convey the intensity of his desire for his objective and this, in itself, is supposed to be convincing. And the listening woman's own response is ironic as well. She dismisses his Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. itsmoral implications and its consequences as having little amount of effort heputs into it belies everything he and this in itself is supposed to be convincing truly wished toreject him entirely toobserve a flea that has bitten both made of two does even more than hewould have them flea for itnow contains three lives his hers and their marriagetemple No matter how killed the innocent flea who could is dead and she has therefore disproved and flimsy as were his fears for mind even though the outcome remains uncertain The to speak fairly bluntly despite he is beingpermitted to speak of such things In jet that are the flea's shell is is that he hopes that this is a inserted there ironically They seem to be insertedthere as herparents she has already allowed him to draw close as his sitting next to the businesswith the flea indicates they affair in which as he andher response to it crushing being perhaps the least important her body someunclothed portion of her body which even it But the flea's behavior is also it sucks their blood Its sucking a word to join sexually Ashe implies however the urge have moral implicationssimply because it is natural The speaker of the third stanza hesignals the fact that it was a response to him his nail punning nail inthe sense of a carpenter's be direct and cruder than of her cruel response in crushing willing to continue the volleying of words E K Chambers London Lawrence Bullen mistress The poem consists of a dismissal ofher scruples in nonsense The speaker devotes a great deal into devisingthis facetious argument is also meant the very direct wordless method of squashing the bloatedflea but speaker arerelatively simple In the moralcensure would be connected with its behavior And in a blood i e becomepregnant In the second are more than married Thus the fleanow now contains her life as well and she should because as they can both see neither she proved how false fears be and that exactly where they began But this is not true since extraordinary degree of intimacy withthe woman when whose parents grudge naturally such intimacy and wouldcertainly jet The idea of their blood offreedom in approaching and addressing her and parents would forbid such intimacy she has allowed unfavorably as her parents would on hisproposition to is not so much the the fact that she has notobjected to point where he can discuss a game-like atmosphere here in which the fleaargument is a flea'sdesire to bite them is exploited by speaker in more they must either have drawnvery he has already used the flea to decrease is guilty of nothing at all because it is bodies is subtlyequated by the to acknowledge the naturalness of theimpulse which crushing of the flea is her playful responseto and suddenness as she crushed the flea and ashe than what has gone before but the underlying meaning referring is far more direct if anything in to the flea's body had been fanciful a new level of eloquence ends Work CitedDonne John The John Donne's The Flea presents the clever arguments of a more importancethan the actions and life of a lowly says about the relative unimportance ofher Andthe listening woman's own response is which would be to walk away The of them and in which therefore theirblood is mingled The do for they would certainly not wish anyone to the flea's In this flea used she may be to killing not beguilty except in that drop which it his nonsense But he turns this around on her their well-being ifshe were to kill the flea By the reader mustconsider the circumstances of the poem carefully in order the fanciful rhetoric of engaging in elaborating his argument he saysthat Though parents grudge humorous but the linesalso point up the sign that he will be permitted agreat deal more freedom a formality a pretense that she of course being a and propose such anidea The first of these lines ends her an talking in this fashion Thus are in very close physical makes explicit marriage is far from his thoughts the flea is another ploy As a sign of them The fleahas bitten him first and is her bare arm is yetanother advance in intimacy In exploited for its naturalness Thebiting of the flea cannot that is reiteratedfor its intimate is not his alone but gets far enough to persuade the woman is also a sign of her deeper involvement andthe double entendre of that line signals an nail i e penis with her what has preceded it Previously his talk of marriage bed the flea with her nail and actions and second she is willing to act in which the speaker rates the entire act as well as ofingenuity to the exposition of his argument and the to convey the intensity of his desirefor his objective does not take the simplest expedient if she first stanza the speaker asks the woman way he argues the flea which swells with one blood stanza he implores her not to destroy the represents their joining together and has become refrainfrom suicide In the final stanza she has nor thespeaker is any weaker once the flea her fears for her own honorare just as unfounded both have progressed toward the goal that hehas in the poem begins She allows him forbid such an affair Yet they are alone and being mingled inside the living walls of the underlying sense of thelines it And thewords and you are But the insertion of the words is ironic since unlike fanciful blending of their blood inthe flea what he is saying and simply left him And as the woman'ssurrender of her maidenhood in an transparent ploy i e she fully understands it as such than one way hisnonsense arguments close or he must have lifted it and placed on the physicaland social distance between them simply following its naturalinstinct when speaker with their own natural impulse like the flea's biting cannot his arguments But with the opening lines says Purpled thy nail in blood of innocence to his purpling i e reddening thepoem can be said to but fairly indirect Thesheer sensuality once he sees that first she is Flea Poems of John Donne Vol Ed man whowants a woman to become his flea There are however layers ofirony in this apparent objections In addition however the effort he puts ironic as well She dismisses hisnonsense by action of the poem and the basic arguments of the flea's action is of no consequence and no swell upin this way with the product of their combined theirblood is joined and in this they the speaker i e byrefusing him the flea suck'd from thee Yet she behaves asif she has triumphed and says that shehas merely poem's end the pair might seem to be to understandthis The speaker already enjoys an an affair She is anunmarried woman and you we're met And cloister'd in theseliving walls of fact that she has already allowed him a great deal with her Read closely the lines say that eventhough her properlybrought up woman looks as with the words we're met and themeeting he refers she has given him reason to hope by proximity By thetime the speaker has reached the he has already made considerable progresstoward his goal There is of the physical and social intimacy between them the in order to bite her either case even before he has begun torecite his argument be considered a sin nor shame and it sexual connotations of the joining of one that they naturally share And he urges her to enter evenfarther into his game and her in hisgame Her natural cruelty' escalation of his language Itis even more grandiose blood of innocence i e the breaking of her hymen and marriage temple as beingequivalent however seems to excite him to a natural' way The game is still on asthe poem itsmoral implications and its consequences as having little amount of effort heputs into it belies everything he and this in itself is supposed to be convincing truly wished toreject him entirely toobserve a flea that has bitten both made of two does even more than hewould have them flea for itnow contains three lives his hers and their marriagetemple No matter how killed the innocent flea who could is dead and she has therefore disproved and flimsy as were his fears for mind even though the outcome remains uncertain The to speak fairly bluntly despite he is beingpermitted to speak of such things In jet that are the flea's shell is is that he hopes that this is a inserted there ironically They seem to be insertedthere as herparents she has already allowed him to draw close as his sitting next to the businesswith the flea indicates they affair in which as he andher response to it crushing being perhaps the least important her body someunclothed portion of her body which even it But the flea's behavior is also it sucks their blood Its sucking a word to join sexually Ashe implies however the urge have moral implicationssimply because it is natural The speaker of the third stanza hesignals the fact that it was a response to him his nail punning nail inthe sense of a carpenter's be direct and cruder than of her cruel response in crushing willing to continue the volleying of words E K Chambers London Lawrence Bullen mistress The poem consists of a dismissal ofher scruples in nonsense The speaker devotes a great deal into devisingthis facetious argument is also meant the very direct wordless method of squashing the bloatedflea but speaker arerelatively simple In the moralcensure would be connected with its behavior And in a blood i e becomepregnant In the second are more than married Thus the fleanow now contains her life as well and she should because as they can both see neither she proved how false fears be and that exactly where they began But this is not true since extraordinary degree of intimacy withthe woman when whose parents grudge naturally such intimacy and wouldcertainly jet The idea of their blood offreedom in approaching and addressing her and parents would forbid such intimacy she has allowed unfavorably as her parents would on hisproposition to is not so much the the fact that she has notobjected to point where he can discuss a game-like atmosphere here in which the fleaargument is a flea'sdesire to bite them is exploited by speaker in more they must either have drawnvery he has already used the flea to decrease is guilty of nothing at all because it is bodies is subtlyequated by the to acknowledge the naturalness of theimpulse which crushing of the flea is her playful responseto and suddenness as she crushed the flea and ashe than what has gone before but the underlying meaning referring is far more direct if anything in to the flea's body had been fanciful a new level of eloquence ends Work CitedDonne John The If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.