The Flea Questions and Answers
The Flea
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. According to the speaker's absurd logic, the flea has...
The Flea
What are the features of metaphysical poetry in "The Flea"?
Metaphysical poetry in "The Flea" features the use of conceit, an extended metaphor that likens two very unlike things—in this case, a flea and sexual union. Donne's narrator argues that the mingling...
The Flea
What is the rhyme scheme and formal structure of "The Flea"?
The rhyme scheme of “The Flea” is aabbccddd. This scheme is used in each of the poem's three stanzas. The structure of the poem consists of three stanzas of nine lines, alternating between iambic...
The Flea
At which points does the tone shift in "The Flea"?
The tone shifts throughout “The Flea” as the speaker pursues his argument and tries to convince his beloved to take their relationship into a physical realm. Let's take a look at how the speaker...
The Flea
Why is a flea used as a metaphor for a sexual relationship in John Donne's "The Flea"?
The speaker of the poem is trying to convince a woman to have a sexual relationship with him. Donne uses a flea in his metaphor in an attempt to help his speaker persuade the woman. First, the...
The Flea
John Donne's Argument and Use of Symbolism in "The Flea"
In "The Flea," John Donne uses the flea as a symbol to argue that physical intimacy is insignificant. He suggests that since their blood has already mingled within the flea, the act of physical union...
The Flea
How does Donne's treatment of love in "The Flea" differ from Elizabethan sonneteers'?
Donne's approach lacks the courtly, dignified manner we associate with the sonnets of, for instance, Spenser and Sidney. Though it is dangerous to generalize about any poet's style and attitude, a...
The Flea
Analyzing the central theme and metaphysical characteristics of John Donne's poem "The Flea."
The central theme of John Donne's "The Flea" is the poet's argument for physical intimacy, using the flea as a conceit to trivialize the act. Metaphysically, the poem blends wit and irony, presenting...
The Flea
How does "The Flea"'s argument change in the final stanza?
Donne's first stanza argues to his beloved that, because the flea has sucked the blood of both him and his beloved, their bloods are mingled ('mingling bloods' is a euphemism for sex). Thus,...
The Flea
What was the past relationship between the speaker and the woman in John Donne's "The Flea"?
The speaker strongly implicates that the relationship between himself and his lady love is chaste—that is to say, entirely devoid of sex. But the speaker aims to change all that by persuading his...
The Flea
What literary terms are represented in "The Flea?"
The speaker starts the poem by using a metaphor comparing the flea to their "marriage bed and marriage temple." The speaker then describes that they are "twinned" (3) in the flea. Later, he uses...
The Flea
Is the theme of love expressed in John Donne's "The Flea"?
In John Donne's "The Flea," the speaker is not expressing his love for the woman to which he speaks, but his lust: for his argument about the flea is his attempt to convince her to sleep with him,...
The Flea
What is a deconstructive view of "The Flea"?
Deconstruction is a method of analysis that seeks to emphasize the "internal" workings of language and the "assumptions implicit in forms of expression," according to wikipedia. In Donne, this is...
The Flea
How does the woman "triumph" in stanza 3 of John Donne's "The Flea"?
The brief answer would be that the woman triumphs by killing the flea that the speaker has been begging her not to kill. We can infer from the poem that she has killed it with one of her...
The Flea
Analyze and explain the poem "The Flea".
The poem The Flea presents us with two lovers who have been bitten by a flea. In his own naturalistic and existentialist way, John Donne places the male character telling his beloved woman that,...
The Flea
Why is John Donne's "The Flea" still relevant for study today?
John Donne is a clever poet who uses what is called a metaphysical conceit to woo his mistress. He tells her that as a flea has bitten both of them, their blood has already been mingled, making her...
The Flea
What elements, such as metaphors, can be compared and contrasted in Donne's "The Flea" and Browning's "Porphyria's...
I would look at the comparison, or metaphor, created between sex and violence in "The Flea." First, the flea bites both of them. Their blood is intermixed in the flea and this is the speaker’s...