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The Flea By John Donne

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The Flea by John Donne is an abstract poem about seduction. The innocence of the flea and the ability to blame it for joining the two of them in the eyes of God and the church is the primary motive for this humorous narrative. The narrator’s intentions are clear that taking her virginity would not affect her status in the eyes of God or social standings. The unlikely romantic figure of the flea is to blame for them already being bounded together. The narrator tries to convince the lady that because the flea has bitten them both and their bodily fluids have mixed inside the flea, they are married. “This flea is you and I, and this Our marriage bed, and marriage temple is” (Donne). This idea references the Bible Genesis 2:24 “they shall become …show more content…

If it were set in 2017, then the significance of this poem would not be as effective. In this time the thought of sex was a personal one, but now sex is talked and joked about more than ever. For example, the narrator says “Though parents grudge, and you, w 'are met,” (Donne) this line demonstrates how the seemingly mature woman is even concerned with how her parents might feel if she has sex with him. Donne’s bold attempt to make sex a light-hearted discussion between two people and a flea was an interesting approach for the time. The poem does not clarify where exactly this exchange is taking place because the spatial setting is not necessary. The importance of the poem is not dependent on who or where, but when and why. The significance of the poem is universal in that Donne is trying to explain that if this single flea can give us such a great bond, then sex should be just as great.
The new ideas that Donne brings to the unspoken world of seduction put a new light on the way people thought in the 17th century. The flea married two strangers or at least that is what the narrator wants you to believe. The art of seduction or the failed attempt at seduction, in this case, has brought to surface that sex is more than just bodily fluids mixing. It is about love and compassion which is what the woman tries to show the man by killing the flea and turning his request down. Sex is not just an act; it is a bond between two people which is more than the little flea can handle, so it is

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