Blog Assignment #2

The Flea
John Donne

The Flea sounds to me like a man trying to seduce his lover, or someone he would like to be his lover. It seems that the speaker is showing a flea to this woman and describing it to her. I was a little unclear on the word ‘maidenhead’, so I looked it up. Maidenhead, it turns out, is an archaic word for hymen. So, the woman he is trying to seduce is a virgin. It appears that she wants to keep it that way, for it seems that he has been trying to seduce her for quite a while. He says, effectively, that the flea gets to enjoy her blood inside it before he even woos her and that he (the flea) swells with her blood inside him. This poem is made up of very sexual images. Sorry to state the obvious. All in all, this man is trying to bang a virgin. But, they’re not married. She doesn’t want to because of the shame she’ll feel, the sin that will be committed, how her parents will react, etc. He is using a flea as a metaphor of the two lovers consummating their relationship. He tries to get her to believe that with him it will cause no shame, no sin, nor loss of maidenhead.

I don’t like the speaker very much.

Blog Assignment #1

Simile
God's Grandeur
G.M.H.
It will flame out, like shining from shook foil.

Repetition
God's Grandeur
G.M.H.
Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;

Alliteration
Digging
S. Heaney
Gravelly ground (l. 4)
Tall tops (l. 12)
Squelch and slap (l. 25)
Curt cuts (l. 26)

Imagery
Digging
S. Heaney
The imagery in this poem is very definite and refreshing. It makes me feel like I'm watching his father dig with him.

Clean rasping sound
Course boot nestled on the lug, the shaft
the inside knee was levered firmly
buried the bright edge
loving their cool hardness
corked sloppily with paper
cold smell of potato mould

Those are some of the things that stood out to me.
There are more, but you should get the idea.

-Rvr

Hey, Hi, Hello!

Hi, I'm River!
This is my first post.
Bye!

-Rvr