What are the symbols used in the flea?
What are the symbols used in the flea?
John Donne’s poem, ‘The Flea’ is a metaphor for sex. The speaker shows a flea to a woman he wants to sleep with, and states that the flea has combined them into one by biting them both and sucking their blood.
What is the metaphor in the flea?
“The Flea” As a Representative of Sex: As this poem is about physical intimacy, the poet uses “flea” as an extended metaphor to demonstrate his desire to have intimacy. At the outset, he says that their blood is mixed in the body of the flea, implying that they have already been made one in the body of the tiny insect.
What is the religious imagery in the flea?
The flea is compared to a church or “cloister” with black walls, in which the marriage ceremony takes place. Lines 16-18: Returning to the metaphor that the flea contains their lives, the speaker accuses her of trying to commit a mortal sin by killing the flea. She would be murdering him and committing suicide herself.
What literary devices are in the flea by John Donne?
Personification and Apostrophe Donne personifies the flea by making it sound as if it was a pampered human eating. “And pampered swells with one blood made of two” (8). “Mark but this flea, and mark in this” (1). He talks to a person or thing outside of the poem.
How does Donne use symbolism to advance his themes in the flea?
Generally blood symbolizes life, and Donne uses blood to symbolize different experiences in life, from erotic passion to religious devotion. In “The Flea” (1633), a flea crawls over a pair of would-be lovers, biting and drawing blood from both.
What is the paradox in the flea?
In “The Flea” by John Donne, the paradox that the speaker presents concerns a flea that has bitten both him and the woman he is trying to seduce.
How does Donne use symbolism to advance his themes in The Flea?
What does Mark but this flea and mark in this mean?
“Mark” in this context means, “Look at” or “note.” He says, “Mark but,” as if the thing he wants her to look at is not very significant. The “but” here means something like “only” here.
How does the flea represent three lives in one describe?
For instance, the speaker describes the flea as “three lives in one.” This is in reference to the fact that the flea contains the blood of the speaker, the mistress, and of the flea itself, but it’s also an allusion to the Holy Trinity: the Father (God), the Son (Jesus), and the Holy Ghost.
What is the irony in the flea?
How is “The Flea” an example of verbal irony? Answer: Speaker expresses that sexual intercourse is inconsequential, but implies that it is monumental to him. Therefore, the second and third stanzas are examples of verbal irony for they state the opposite of what is implied.
Why is the flea a metaphysical poem?
The poem uses metaphysical conceits where the body of the flea is exaggerated and stretched to give a meaning out of it. When the flea bites his mistress and him then their blood is mingled inside the body of the flea.