“The Flea” by John Donne

Introduction

The author offers literary criticism and commentary on "The Flea," a poem by John Donne. The article focuses on the erotic symbolism of the poem, which is said to involve a blurring of the distinctions between male and female. The concepts of gender and identity are discussed in this context. Supporting evidence for such a reading of the text is provided. (Helen Louise Gardner 100)

A being influenced forever with The Flea by John Donne, Mischievous in nature, diabolical in the intent of cascading symbolism. This verse was given first of the pieces of music and Sonnets in early editions from 1635 on. (Theodore Redpath 50) It is sometimes said to have been one of the most celebrated of Donne's poems in the poet's own day, but the only evidence of its popularity is Grierson's reference to some admirers of a Dutch translation of the poem. (Theodore Redpath 50)

Discussion and Analysis

The speaker notifies his beloved to gaze at the flea before them and to note “how little” is that thing that she refutes him. For the flea, he states, has imbibed first his blood, then her body-fluid, so that now, interior the flea, they are mingled; and that mingling will not be called “sin, or shame, or decrease of maidenhead.” The flea has connected them together in a way that, “alas, is more than we would do.”

As his beloved moves to murder the flea, the speaker resides her hand, inquiring her to replacement the three lives in the flea: his life, her life, and the flea's own life. In the flea, he states, where their body-fluid is mingled, they are nearly married—no, more than married—and the flea is their wedding ceremony bed and wedding ceremony temple mixed into one. Though their parents grudge their romance and though she will not make love to him, they are regardless joined and cloistered in the dwelling partitions of the flea. She is apt to kill him, he states, but he inquires that she not kill herself by murdering the flea that comprises her body-fluid; he states that to murder the flea would be sacrilege, “three sins in murdering three.” “Cruel and sudden,” the speaker calls his lover, who has now slain the flea, “purpling” her fingernail with the “blood of innocence.” (Helen Louise Gardner 100) The speaker asks his lover what the flea's sin was, other than having sucked from ...