This document summarizes John Donne's metaphysical poem "The Flea" and provides context about metaphysical poetry and Donne's life and works. It discusses how Donne uses the metaphor of a flea biting two lovers to represent their mingling blood as a metaphor for sex. The poem sees the speaker try to convince his lover to be intimate by arguing their mingling in the flea is innocent, so intimacy would be too. It explains how Donne hints at sexuality through images while avoiding explicit references. The document provides background on Donne as a pioneer of metaphysical poetry, known for its intellectualism, strange imaginings, and paradoxes. It concludes by thanking the reader.

1. Parmar Dipali K.
Roll No: 30
Topic: Unit 4 ‘The Flea’
M.A. Sem. 1
Batch: 2015-’17
Email Id: dipaliparmar247@gmail.com
Department of English (M.K.B.U.)
The Renaissance Literature

3. Metaphysical Poetry
 ‘Meta’ means ‘After’.
 Metaphysical means ‘After the Physical’.
 Metaphysics deals with the questions that can’t be explained
by science.
 Metaphysical poetry is highly intellectual.
 There is a use of strange imaginary and frequent paradox could
be seen.
 Metaphysical poems are lyric poems.
 Which contains extremely complicated thought.

4. Donne’s Imagination
 John Donne is a pioneer of Metaphysical poetry.
 His works are noted for their strong, sensual style.
 His poetry is noted for its vibrancy of language and
inventiveness of metaphor.
 Donne's early career was also notable for his erotic poetry,
especially his elegies, in which he employed
unconventional metaphors, such as a flea biting two lovers
being compared to sex.
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5. Donne’s Imagination
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Towards the end of his life Donne wrote works that
challenged death, and the fear that it inspired in many
men, on the grounds of his belief that those who die
are sent to Heaven to live eternally.
 One example of this challenge is his Holy Sonnet X,
Death Be Not Proud.

6. The Flea
 The Flea is an erotic metaphysical poem by
John Donne (1572–1631). The exact date of its
composition is unknown.
 The poem uses the conceit of a flea, which
has sucked blood from the male speaker and
his female lover, to serve as an extended
metaphor for the relationship between them.
 The speaker tries to convince a lady to sleep
with him, arguing that if their blood mingling in
the flea is innocent, then sexual mingling
would also be innocent.
 Donne is able to hint at the sensual without
clearly referring to sex, using images such as
the flea (line 8);
“ And pampered swells with one blood made
of two,”

7.  This evokes the idea of a creation. The
speaker complains (line 9);
”And this, alas, is more than we would do.”
 He holds the flea up in the second stanza
saying that
“Our marriage bed, and marriage temple
is;”
 He argues that by killing the flea, she would
be killing herself, himself, and the flea itself
“ And sacrilege, three sins in killing three.”
 The lady, in the third stanza, kills the flea,
presumably rejecting the speaker's advances.
 He then claims she will lose no more honor
when she decides to sleep with him than she
did when she killed the flea.

8. References
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Flea_%28poem%29
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Donne
 http://www.sparknotes.com/poetry/donne/section3.
rhtml
 http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/175764
 http://www.gradesaver.com/donne-poems/study-
guide/section1/

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