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 definitely agree in reading your analysis that this is a guy running some pretty sexual-inuendoed game on this girl. Especially when he talks about how cruel it would be if the flea died and took this beautiful mixing of bodily fluids away from the world.
I guess that in Donne's time people thought that mixing blood is how a woman got pregnant. So he is almost saying that...the flea is having sex with the woman? Ok, I'm not sure that is the case. I didn't particularly like the speaker either.
I think that this is a pretty accurate analysis. I was unclear of the term maidenhead as well, but I failed to look it up. I wish I would have because it helps give further insight to the speaker's attitude.
I agree. I didn't like him either. I read that poem and was like... Wow. Then I decided to analyze a different one. But you did a good job.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree in reading your analysis that this is a guy running some pretty sexual-inuendoed game on this girl. Especially when he talks about how cruel it would be if the flea died and took this beautiful mixing of bodily fluids away from the world.
ReplyDeleteNice analysis.
I guess that in Donne's time people thought that mixing blood is how a woman got pregnant. So he is almost saying that...the flea is having sex with the woman? Ok, I'm not sure that is the case. I didn't particularly like the speaker either.
ReplyDeleteGood job...my favorite line was''He is trying to bang a virgin. lmao! I thought you did a great job with this one!
ReplyDeleteI think that this is a pretty accurate analysis. I was unclear of the term maidenhead as well, but I failed to look it up. I wish I would have because it helps give further insight to the speaker's attitude.
ReplyDelete