"The Flea"

2007-09-13T09:42:00.000-07:00

Part One:

I really liked this poem because the flea metaphor is so unusual for a poem about sex.
It’s also pretty humorous how hard the poet tries to sleep with the woman in the poem. Another thing that makes me chuckle is the line, “It sucked me first, and now sucks thee,” (l.3). This is purely speculation, but a lot of 17^th century manuscripts print an “s” that looks awfully like an “f,” which would seem like some subliminal messaging. That’s probably just something a dork would notice and Donne may not have even intended that, but I laugh nonetheless.

Part Two:

The images of the flea and blood mingling are hugely important to the story. The flea acts as a mechanism for seducing the lady in the poem. The speaker and the lady are bitten by a flea. The speaker uses the blood mingled in the flea as a parallel to sex, as mingled blood was a reference for sex. The speaker says, “This flea is you and I, and this/ Our marriage bed” (ll. 12-13) to convince the lady that their blood is already mingled in the flea; they have already “mingled blood” and the flea is their marriage bed. “We’re pretty much married, so why not?” is my paraphrase. The speaker begs for the flea’s life when he says, “three lives in one flea spare” (l. 10) and compares this act to sacrilege. This is murder! The life of the flea is heightened with importance by the speaker because he has elevated the flea to a marriage bed, a link to his lover. The unamused and unconvinced lady proceeds to kill the flea. Not to be thwarted, our witty and determined speaker changes his tactic. He says “Find'st not thyself, nor mee the weaker now,” (l.24) to move to the conclusion that neither are hurt by this and they would be no more harmed by premarital sex than by the death of the flea. The mingled blood is so important to the poem because the image allows the speaker to play with the idea in his argument and change his tactics to seduce the lady. This image works to demonstrate the speaker’s determination in pursuing his goal. It also serves to build a climax in the poem and a release, should the reader happen to pick up on the suggestion of those nuances.

Donne uses religious imagery throughout the poem, a strange thing for such a sexual theme. The idea of the flea, the speaker, and the lady sharing mingled blood, their shed blood residing in the flea, conjures images of the trinity and the mention of “sacrilege” (l. 18) is also indicative of religious reference. This works as evidence for the speaker to convince the lady that her yielding to him is not a sin, and is even supported by God. This feels like a stretch, but I think that it feels this way so that the speaker is conveyed as dramatic and relentless. This also drives the determination of the speaker.

"Ode on a Grecian Urn"

2007-09-05T19:54:00.000-07:00

Part One:
I love this poem. I love how this poem shows the poetic mind’s ability to sit and muse over an inanimate object and then contemplate life and its transience and meaning. The visuals are amazing and thoughtful and the entire poem is so imaginative. I thought that the poem reads really fluidly and is really easy to follow.

Part Two:
“Ode on a Grecian Urn” begins with the speaker musing over a Grecian urn. The speaker contemplates the scenes depicted on the urn and then contemplates the urn’s place in his time. The urn, being cared for and nursed by silence and slow time, has been preserved through centuries for the poet to appreciate. The speaker then ponders the scene of a piper on the urn. The music will never end, although it’s never heard on the urn, and summertime as depicted, will likewise never end. The speaker emphasizes all the scenes’ enduring qualities, the beauty of the girl, the love of the boy and the girl. This leads to the conclusion that art is superior to life because it preserves love, music, and beauty, where life releases it in its inherent transience. The speaker exclaims, “Cold pastoral!” acknowledging that he cannot participate in the town that he imagines to exist outside the scope of the urn, the love of the couple, and music depicted that will last forever. The reality of life is that moments of pleasure, such as are depicted on the urn, are transient. All moments of real pleasure are tainted with the awareness of their fleeting nature, which makes us appreciate the joy in moments of pleasure even more.

breakerbear09

"The Flea"

"Ode on a Grecian Urn"