What is the flea a metaphor for?
'The Flea' is a 17th-century English poem by John Donne and uses a flea as a metaphor to explore the sexual union between a man and a woman. The speaker in the poem shows a flea to a young lady that has apparently bitten both of them.What is the meaning of the flea poem?
John Donne's 'The Flea' is a metaphysical poem that explores devotion and sexual love through the conceit of a flea. Written sometime in the late 16th century, the poem is exemplary of Donne's poetic voice, philosophical and spiritual themes, and the metaphysical genre.What is the personification of the flea?
Donne personifies the flea by suggesting that it is capable of wooing, or seducing, the young woman. Personification involves attributing human-like qualities or behaviors to a nonhuman thing.What kind of literary terms are represented in the flea?
John Donne employs rhyme, alliteration, and religious parallels in his poem ''The Flea. '' The lines of the poem adhere to an aabbccddd rhyme scheme. Thus, every two lines rhyme until the final three lines of each stanza, which rhyme as well.What is the central conceit of the flea?
The flea is the poem's central conceit, a seemingly innocent flea serves as a tool of seduction in an attempt to coax the speaker's lover into bed. “Me it sucked first, and now sucks thee” demonstrates the speaker's arousal which stimulates from the image of the flea biting both his lover and himself.The Flea By John Donne Analysis
What is the irony of the poem the flea?
How is “The Flea” an example of verbal irony? Answer: Speaker expresses that sexual intercourse is inconsequential, but implies that it is monumental to him. Therefore, the second and third stanzas are examples of verbal irony for they state the opposite of what is implied.What is the paradox in the flea by John Donne?
In “The Flea,” the speaker tries to seduce his mistress with a surprising (and potentially gross) extended metaphor: both he and she have been bitten by the same flea, meaning their separate blood now mingles inside the flea's body. Having sex is no different, the speaker argues, and no more dishonorable.What is the hyperbole in the flea?
Hyperbole. The author wanted to have intercourse with his lover, but he keeps comparing it and their love to the flea. Since he is comparing it so much to the flea, which is a worthless parasite, it's weird that he wants to have intercourse with her so badly.What is the speaker's tone in the flea?
As compelling as the speaker's assertions are, his motives are completely transparent as he is attempting to convince his lady that surrendering her virginity would be no shame under the sanctified circumstances provided by the flea. The tone of the poem is highly ironic, dramatic and absurdly amusing.Is the flea carpe diem?
The poem evokes the aphorism carpe diem, which is Latin for "seize the day". Donne encourages the lady to focus on the present day and time versus saving herself for the afterlife.Is the flea a love poem?
This poem is the cleverest of a long line of sixteenth-century love poems using the flea as an erotic image, a genre derived from an older poem of Ovid.How is the flea killed in the poem the flea?
It happens between the end of stanza two and the beginning of three. The woman has crushed the flea, even in death a noble martyr: “Cruel and sudden, hast thou since / Purpled thy nail, in blood of innocence?” By turning this accusation into a question, Donne nicely maintains the comic pitch.How does the flea represent love?
In 'the flea', unlike how the male lovers would normally try to win over the women with beautiful and unrealistic languages in the Petrarchan love poetry, in 'The Flea' the speaker uses unromantic imagery of a parasite, the flea as the metaphor for his intimate relationship with the woman, in order to persuade her to ...Why is the speaker jealous of the flea?
He acts jealous of the flea because it received her blood “before it woo (1081).” The argument is not intense or angry; it ends with a mock sigh: “And this, alas, is more than we would do (1081).” The playful conceit of the first stanza lays the ground for the more outlandish claims of the second and third.What is an example of conceit in the flea?
Example of Conceit in Donne's "The Flea"Mark but this flea, and mark in this, How little that which thou deniest me is; It suck'd me first, and now sucks thee, And in this flea our two bloods mingled be.