The Flea by John Donne: Literary Analysis

The Flea by John Donne: Literary Analysis

The Flea, by John Donne, is interesting literature. It is a seduction lyric whereby the narrator tries to convince a lady to accept his love. The narrator uses the scene of a flea flying from his body and landing to the young lady’s body to justify why the two should make love. The poet uses the conceit, The Flea, to depict how the narrator and woman’s blood is already mingled in the flea’s body. Besides, the Flea bites the young lady and gets what it wanted without hurting her. The speaker argues that the flea’s bite helps to intermingle their blood, an act which is not considered a sin, likewise, their lovemaking should not be treated as sin. In the Flea, Donne uses the conceit of the Flea to excuse his love, romance and sexual intimacy for the young lady. Flea has been used to symbolize the love the narrator has for the young lady. In the second stanza, the young lady wants to kill the flea meaning that she is not interested in making love. However, the poet is ready to protect his justification why the young woman should accept to have sexual intimacy with him by preventing her from killing the flea. The poet tells the young lady that, they Flea represents their two lives and besides, she will be accused of killing three souls: herself, the narrator and the flea (Donne). The young lady does not heed to the narrator’s plea and proceeds by killing the Flea. Nevertheless, the speaker will not let it go and tries to convince the woman their souls have not been weakened by dead Flea which contains the portions of their lives. He assures the woman the loss of the body fluids contained in the flea does not leave the long-lasting effect; hence, they should not hesitate in making love, yielding (Donne). The poet despises the young lady’s fears for making love with him by telling him that she will not lose any honor since she has already lost it by killing the flea.