A sin, nor shame, nor loss of maidenhead;”
Which make me feel that he is lulling her into a sense of false security. This is a great technique to win his argument.
At the end of stanza one, the poet becomes quite melodramatic:
“Yet this enjoys before it woo,
And pamper’d swells in one blood made of two;
And this, alas! is more than we would do.”
Donne could be implying that the flea easily has enjoyment from sucking her blood and that he himself has no pleasure from her. This might show he has an egotistical attitude towards women.
Donne’s use of physical language such as “suck’d”, “blood” and “swells” implies his lustful desires and show the sensual undercurrents of the poem.
At the start of the second stanza you get the impression that offstage, the unseen participant whom the poem has been addressed, has been unimpressed by what he’s saying and instinctively gone to kill the flea. In this phrase he uses religious language:
“O stay, three lives in one flea spare,”
He is referring to the trinity and comparing the unison of her and him in the flea as holy and important.
The second stanza is the only stanza, which has imagery and uses a variety of adjectives, although they are all holy, such as “marriage temple” and “marriage bed”, these strong phrases may suggest that he would worship her and is in complete awe of her. Also the phrase:
“cloister’d in these living walls of jet.”
Conveys how they are together inside this safe enclosure. Nuns and monks are “cloister’d” inside monasteries or convents because they choose to devote their lives to God. Donne is persuading her that they are brought together in safety and cannot escape, so basically there is nothing wrong with sleeping together.
The poet then evokes that she would be committing three sins in killing the flea because she would be killing herself and him.
“And sacrilege, three sins in killing three.”
He is making her feel guilty but could also be trying to appeal to her self-interest. This makes me feel angry because he is manipulating her through religion. Religion was very important in the 17th century so she is most probably going to listen to him or she would be being blasphemous by committing sacrilege in killing the flea.
The language in this stanza creates imagery, which strengthens his argument, and the reader can see the argument progressing.
In the final stanza John Donne has astutely won his argument by rearranging it, but first he becomes extremely histrionic:
“Cruel and sudden, hast thou since
Purpled thy nail in blood of innocence?”
He is trying to make her feel guilty and that she has done something terribly wrong, but the girl has obviously dismissed what he has been saying and killed the flea. His argument so far was not convincing to her. These sudden outbursts occur at the beginning of each stanza, Donne is using a colloquial style in his writing, which is common in his poems, this creates a passionate and intense atmosphere and emphasizes his persistence in winning his argument.
Donne then cleverly changes his argument:
“Tis true; then learn how false fears be;”
At first he was saying that killing the flea was a sin because both their blood was inside it and that there is no shame in sleeping together. Then when she kills the flea and tells him that nothing bad has happened to her or him:
“Yet thou triumph’st and say’st that thou
Find’st not thyself not me the weaker now.”
He agrees with her and then uses what she has said and twists it to say, ‘It is only a flea. And it is only sex.’
In the last few line of the 3rd stanza Donne has pushed her into a corner and his argument is won.
The use of the flea in this poem is a conceit; John Donne kept coming back to the flea in his argument as a way of pushing his point. This is similar to Carol Ann Duffy’s poem “Valentine” where she has used an onion as a conceit, as a way of representing her feelings and attitudes towards love.
Carol Ann Duffy is a modern day poet and wrote “Valentine” in the 20th century. The poem is about giving something different to the one you love on Valentines Day. She is exploring feelings about love and how to express them. The tone throughout the poem is truthful, sincere and sometimes shy: “I am trying to be truthful”, which is different to John Donne’s “The Flea” because his tone is confident and arrogant: “When thou yield’st to me”.
The title “Valentine” immediately makes you think of soppy cards and romantic gestures that people give to their partners, this is due to the materialistic world that we live in and the hype that the media and advertising companies create. The word valentine is a cliché, it makes the reader suspect that the poem is going to be about the love that is felt for the other person and that it will be and extremely positive.
The poem is not written in stanzas, it also has no rhythm because it has short and long sentences such as “Here” and “It will blind you with tears like a lover”. Which make it seem disjointed. It also has no rhyme, this may suggest that the poet is very hesitant and the minor sentences may portray her low confidence, which is unlike “The Flea” because the regular rhyme and neat stanzas emphasize his confidence in his argument.
The poem deals with the physical aspects of love and the sensual undercurrents of a close relationship by using words like “undressing of love” and “kiss”, this is similar to the physical language that John Donne uses in his poem such as “suck’d” and “swells”. But John Donne is not talking about the closeness in love; he is talking about the closeness in sex. Whereas Duffy is using an incongruous and ambiguous tone:
“It will blind you with tears” and “make your reflection
A wobbling photo of grief.”
Thus implying that there is a positive and negative side to love. People have their hearts broken in love, go through various emotions and it affects people in many ways, this is due to nature and the way of life. Maybe Duffy has been affected by love in some way, hurt even, and is using this poem as a way of expressing what she has been through and how love can affect people. But she could also be mocking love by being quite sarcastic:
“Not a cute card or a kissogram.”
The alliteration in her sarcasm may infer her inability to express herself. It might be saying that she is unconventional; likes to do things her own way and does not follow the conventional side of Valentine’s Day; where presents, cards and romantic events are planned throughout the whole day. She may want to express her love in another way.
Duffy’s use of emotive language such as “fierce kiss” and “possessive and faithful” could imply her strong feelings towards love and the more serious and deep side to it. It could also infer the lust and passion in her argument, which is similar to Donne’s poem. Both their poems are a mixture of logic and lust. But Duffy’s poem is about deeply felt feelings towards their partners, and has more meaning than John Donne’s poem.
Both poems are addressed to an unseen participant who is not convinced by their argument but they both have different levels of success in their arguments. Duffy’s use of the extended metaphor of the onion seems to confuse the other person
“Take it.”
The other person could be slightly bewildered by the concept of the onion and not sure whether to take it or not. And it does not help that Duffy seems to lack in confidence due to the minor sentences, which suggest her hesitance to push home her point. Donnes’s conceit of the flea is insignificant towards the end of the poem but because of his confidence he seems to win his opponent over and win his argument.
Duffy tries to compromise with the unconvinced person by saying:
“Its platinum loops shrink to a wedding ring,”
The word “platinum loops” could convey how love is rare and to be treasured; her love with her partner could be precious and means a lot to her.
Duffy's irregular stanzas become more intense towards the end of the poem. Her use of the words “lethal” and “knife” could be suggesting that love is dangerous and deadly. Duffy may be willing to please her lover, the phrase “if you like” backs up this point. Duffy is not suggesting that they marry but is bringing up the subject, but only if the other person is content about talking about it
The poet’s repetition of the word “cling” is a contrast to the rest of the last stanza, where there is aggressive Lexis such as “lethal” and “knife”. The oxymoron of “cling” and “knife” in the same sentence emphasize the point that there is a positive and negative side to love. This makes it stand out. In a way Duffy is showing her need for affection; once you are in love with someone you can never get rid of the memories of him or her. She is trying to be truthful and express her deeply felt love for the other person.
Duffy’s poem “Valentine” is much more serious than John Donne’s “The Flea” because his tone is lustful and his feelings not genuine.
Both poems show different attitudes towards love and their confidence in expressing themselves. I can relate to “Valentine” because Duffy expresses her ambiguity about love; it is neither good nor bad. I agree with this statement, I think that this is what Duffy is trying to put across throughout her poem. Maybe that Valentines Day is just a cliché; that deeper feeling’s needed to be expressed. The most powerful line for me was
“I give you an onion.”
It interested me because it was so absurd and incongruous and made me wonder why she had chosen an onion to represent her affection felt for her partner. I think the poet felt strongly about how people should express their feelings to those you care about instead of following the crowd and sending pointless cards. I would like to read more of her poems.
John Donne’s poem “The Flea” makes me feel quite angry because he has portrayed how some men think that women are objects; only for their own pleasure and that virginity is insignificant and unimportant. But it did also make me laugh because of how melodramatic he was and how desperate he was to persuade her that he used a flea as an example. I think it was a very clever poem and would have certainly entertained the audience it was aimed at. He was a very intelligent man and I would expect that many of his other poems would be just as witty and interesting.
