John Donne The Flea Analysis

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Analysis of the Author John Donne, “The Flea”
Introduction
John Donne was a great author and poet whose works only became famous long after his death in 1631. All his works have been noted to involve a lot of wit. His major literary works include The Flea, The Sun Rising and The Canonization. However, all his other works are still considered great and influential including, The Good-Morrow, A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning, Go and Catch a Falling Star, The Ecstasy, and To His Mistress Going to Bed. One of his famous poems “The Flea”, Donne fancifully describes physical love and its true natural nature. The persona in the poem tries to use seduction as a way of winning the affection of the woman he is attracted to. He argues that since his and her blood have already mingled within the flea’s body after it sucked both of them then they have every reason to engage in sexual intercourse as a way of mingling their bodies. In the poem “The Sun Rising”, the sun is chastised by the persona for interfering with the romantic moment he is having in bed with his lover. He does not like the idea that they are forced to rise because the sun is peeping at them through the curtains on a morning. The third poem “The Canonization” revolves around the idea that love is the means by which lovers are sanctified. There is a belief that for those who are in love, this love becomes their religion. John Donne is regarded as one of the most renowned metaphysical poets whose works center on raw life and uses conceit as a means of exploring the spirituality, sexual relationships and satire in life. These ideas are evident across all his works.
Literary Analysis
In order to understand better the character of John Donne and his highly praised writings, it is best to delve into an analysis of three of his most famous works “The Flea”, The Sun Rising” and “The Canonization.” In the first poem “The Flea”, the speaker argues that he and his love-interest should make love given that a flea had mixed their blood after sucking both of them. The poem is an ideal proof of Donne’s wit as he uses an elaborate metaphor to illustrate what love really is. He feels that since the flea did not give anything in order for it to enjoy sucking their blood, then he too should be granted the opportunity to freely enjoy the sexual favors. He goes ahead to paint the flea in holy light in the second stanza when he says, “this flea is you and I, and this/Our marriage bed, and marriage temple is” (lines 12-13). By referring to this, the persona tries to reason with the lady in question that the flea has already united them in a holy and spiritual union, therefore there is no harm with them making love to each other. However, the woman chooses to kill the flea but the persona realizing that this will weaken their bond, tries to stop her. He tells the woman, “let not to that self-murder added be” (line 17). By saying this, he implies that murdering the flea that contained their blood would mean she was killing them too. Despite his attempts, the persona fails in the end as the woman crushes the flea in order to free them from whatever bond there is between them.
The second poem, “The Sun Rising” speaks of two lovers who are intruded by the sun while laying down on the bed of the persona after a night of lovemaking. The persona does not like this intrusion and insults the sun by calling it “an old fool” (line 1). In true fashion of a metaphysical poet, Donne outrageously claims that his lover is more important to the universe unlike the intruding sun. His idea of making the sun appear weak and powerless is something that most poets would not readily try thus making him one of the boldest poets there ever was.
Donne’s wit and irony are further exemplified in his other poem “The Canonization”. In the poem, romantic love is described with all its complexities. Just like the other two cases, Donne has used conceit to show the magnitude of this love in which lovers opt to spend every waking hour together while foregoing all other aspects of their lives. Donne’s use of exaggerated metaphors is evident throughout the poem as the persona claims that what he and his lover have is beyond what the world can ever wish for. The three works show one significant similarity in that they all touch on one form of love or another. This is typical of a good number of Donne’s works, which also revolve around this same theme of love. From the analysis of these three poems, it makes sense to conclude that Donne viewed sexuality and spirituality as the means through which love and sanctity could be explained. That true sanctity cannot be attained if a physical vessel is not available, through which this spirituality can be transferred. It is also evident that according to the poet, nature had power over everything and thus only it should reign. His most notable style that contributed to Donne being widely known is his use of metaphysical conceit. As seen from his works, he is indeed full of fanciful ideas and uses elaborate metaphors, which he is never afraid to exploit to the end. A good example is his poem “The Flea.” The ability to successfully use conceit has made him be known as a witty poet. Donne is said to have started writing from an early age and most of his secular work was written during this time. However, later on he became a priest and this significantly changed his approach to writing. Embracing religion contributed a lot to his works that now focused on creating a connection between the secular (physical) and the spiritual.
Discussion
Kyle Fuller is the author of the article John Donne: The Sacramentality of Sex. In this article, Fuller argues that the sacramentality of sex is portrayed in Donne’s works using ...