John Donne's poem "the flea" is a perfect example of a love poem

The speaker begins his attempt at convincing his beloved b trying to indicate to her “How little” is the thing she denies him.  For the flea has already aided the union between them to a large extent by first sucking  the speakers blood and then the beloveds the flea has brought them together in a union within itself.  This act on the part of the flea can obviously cause  no sin or shame to the beloved likewise engaging in premarital sex since the damage is already done by the flea should not bring on  an shame or loss of virtue on his beloved. The first stanza  is marked with the use of repletion where in the first line itself he repeats the word “mark”. The repetition of this word displays his need to point out to his beloved the futility of resisting his overtures since the damage is already done. The repetition of the word suck in line 3,  indicates a sort of erotic imagery to emphasize his desire for his beloved.

In the second stanza in a bid to squash the speakers argument his beloved attempts to  kill the flea. However the speaker stops her asking her to spare her  three lives: His, hers and the fleas. According to him their union within the flea is almost equivalent to them being married and the flea therefore becomes their marriage bed and marriage temple. However much his beloved may try to run away from him she has to accept that a mingling has already occurred with the flea bite. She could even be forgiven for killing the flea and the speaker but he asks that she not kill herself in the process. The figure of speech in stanza is a repetition again exhibited in the word “marriage”. The repetition of this word shows the speakers attempt at trying to convince his beloved of the sanctity of their relationship which he considers to be more than even marriage. The repetition of the no. 3 in the last line of the second stanza  shows his attempt at  convincing her to let down her guard and save herself from committing a sin that would be far greater than giving into his desires.

In the third and final stanza the beloved kills the flea, this leading the speaker to call her cruel and sudden . He asks her what sin the flea commited that it should have met with its untimely death. His beloved retorts that killing the flea did not make either of them less noble and that no sin was ultimately committed. To this the speaker quickly replies that she has to give into him she would lose no more honor than when she lost when she killed the flea. The figure of speech that stands that in the final stanza of donnes poem the flea , is a transferred epithet. The word “purpled” is actually associated with the blood of innocence that was shared by the flea. However it has been moved to desribed the beloveds nail which was the weapon use to commit the sacriligous murder. The very next line of the same stanza possess a personification where the flea is given the human quality of guilty although it is a mere object in this equation and a creature incapable of  feeling any such emotion.

In an overall technical analysis of the poem it alternates metrically between lines in iambic tetrameter and iambic pentameter ending with two pentameter lines at the end of each stanza. Thus the stress pattern in each of the 9 line stanzas 4-5 4-5 4-5 4-55.  The rhyme scheme in each stanza is regular in couplets with the final line rhyming with the final couplet. The rhyme scheme therefore is AABBCCDDD.

In a general overview this poem can be credited with being the cleverest of a long line of sixteen century love poems using the flea as an erotic image. Donnes ablility of hinting at the erotic without explicitly referring to sex while at the same time leaving no doubt as to exactly what he means is the primary source of the poems humour.