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  • John Donne: The Flea

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    Raya VitalievNa
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    The poem describes a flea that has bitten both the speaker and his lover, mingling their blood within the flea. The speaker argues that since their blood is now mixed through the flea, consummating their relationship would not be a sin. He asks his lover to spare the flea with their three lives contained within it, as they are now more than married through their mingled blood within the flea. The speaker says killing the flea would be self-murder and sacrilege for the three lives contained in it.

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    The Flea

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    The poem describes a flea that has bitten both the speaker and his lover, mingling their blood within the flea. The speaker argues that since their blood is now mixed through the flea, consummating their relationship would not be a sin. He asks his lover to spare the flea with their three lives contained within it, as they are now more than married through their mingled blood within the flea. The speaker says killing the flea would be self-murder and sacrilege for the three lives contained in it.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
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    315 views1 page

    John Donne: The Flea

    Uploaded by

    Raya VitalievNa
    The poem describes a flea that has bitten both the speaker and his lover, mingling their blood within the flea. The speaker argues that since their blood is now mixed through the flea, consummating their relationship would not be a sin. He asks his lover to spare the flea with their three lives contained within it, as they are now more than married through their mingled blood within the flea. The speaker says killing the flea would be self-murder and sacrilege for the three lives contained in it.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 1

    The Flea

    BY JOHN DONNE
    Mark but this flea, and mark in this,
    How little that which thou deniest me is;
    It sucked me first, and now sucks thee,
    And in this flea our two bloods mingled be;
    Thou knowst that this cannot be said
    A sin, nor shame, nor loss of maidenhead,
    Yet this enjoys before it woo,
    And pampered swells with one blood made of two,
    And this, alas, is more than we would do.
    Oh stay, three lives in one flea spare,
    Where we almost, nay more than married are.
    This flea is you and I, and this
    Our mariage bed, and marriage temple is;
    Though parents grudge, and you, w'are met,
    And cloistered in these living walls of jet.
    Though use make you apt to kill me,
    Let not to that, self-murder added be,
    And sacrilege, three sins in killing three.
    Cruel and sudden, hast thou since
    Purpled thy nail, in blood of innocence?
    Wherein could this flea guilty be,
    Except in that drop which it sucked from thee?
    Yet thou triumphst, and say'st that thou
    Findst not thy self, nor me the weaker now;
    Tis true; then learn how false, fears be:
    Just so much honor, when thou yieldst to me,
    Will waste, as this fleas death took life from thee.

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