Donne uses a variety of poetic methods in The Flea and Elegy XIX: To His Mistress going to Bed to show his desires of a physical intimacy with the woman.

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By referring closely to ‘Elegy XIX: To His Mistress going to Bed’ and ‘The Flea’ and making use of relevant external contextual information on metaphysical poetry, examine the poetic methods which Donne uses to write about sexual relationships with women.

Donne uses a variety of poetic methods in ‘The Flea’ and ‘Elegy XIX: To His Mistress going to Bed’ to show his desires of a physical intimacy with the woman. These poems share a common theme of seduction and are written with the idea that the female is, to a degree, attainable, although it can be argued that she progressively becomes attainable. Donne makes use of many poetic metaphysical characteristics present in both poems through the structure of stanzas, the focus on the physical rather than the spiritual, use of conceits, imperatives and wit. Mainly in ‘Elegy XIX: To His Mistress going to Bed’, there are references to the time period of the metaphysical poets such as exploration and the Ptolemaic theory. Although the poems are alike, it is apparent that ‘The Flea’ is much more of an erotic joke intended to be shared with Donne’s male friends rather than a sensual and passionate poem as seen in, ‘Elegy XIX: To His Mistress going to Bed’.

 ‘The Flea’ is a dramatic monologue that directly addresses the reader and is divided into three stanzas. Metaphysical poets were known for their vitality and drama which can be seen as the argument develops throughout the poem. It is also known that in drama there were two other ‘actors’ aside from the poet, which in this poem are the flea and the lady. There is juxtaposition between the flea and the woman as the flea is a disgusting insect that carries the plague which contrasts with the beautiful woman in which Donne wants to seduce. The first stanza discusses the flea and how it is small and of little importance just as the woman’s virginity is, ‘Mark but this flea, and mark in this/How little that which thou deniest me is’. Although the poem was intended for male eyes, in the poem Donne is trying to woo the woman into bed in an intelligent and humorous way. Therefore, Donne furthers his argument by saying that the flea has united them both through biting them and taking their blood so now ‘our two bloods mingled be’. This idea is the conceit in the poem. There is a metaphysical belief that during sexual intercourse, the blood of the two people’s bodies mixed and mingled together, thus it is clear Donne is saying that the flea has taken her virginity and not only that, but as their blood is mixed in the flea and she hasn’t changed, ‘A sin, nor shame, nor loss of maidenhead’, then there is no difference between that and actual sex. Donne shows his jealousy of the flea, ‘Yet this enjoys before it woo’, and how it didn’t have to go to any effort to woo her. In the last line of the first stanza, Donne exclaims ‘alas! Is more than we would do’, showing his disappointment that they have not yet had sexual intercourse.

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In the second stanza of ‘The Flea’, Donne makes use of imperatives such as ‘O stay’ which is a common trait in metaphysical poetry as it is know for its description of movement and actions. Donne is trying to persuade his mistress not to kill the flea as it is symbolic of them both. Therefore, if the woman kills the flea, it will result in ‘three sins in killing three’ with the murder, suicide and sacrilege. Again, Donne works with the conceit of their unity within the flea and how it is their ‘marriage bed’ and ‘marriage temple’.

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