I am trusting nobody but myself to leave you work this week. I am (very sadly) away on Thursday, though happily here on Friday which should help me to catch up with you and your work.
Above is a video with a dramatised reading of 'The Flea', another very conceited poem (in the sense of a conceit as an extended metaphor). The text of the poem is below:
Mark but this flea, and mark in this,
How little that which thou deny'st me is;
It sucked me first, and now sucks thee,
And in this flea, our two bloods mingled be;
Thou knowest that this cannot be said
A sin, nor shame, nor loss of maidenhead.
Yet this enjoys before it woo,
And pampered, swells with one blood made of two,
And this, alas, is more than we would do.
Oh stay, three lives in one flea spare,
Where we almost, yea, more than married are.
This flea is you and I, and this
Our marriage bed, and marriage temple is;
Though parents grudge, and you, we are met
And cloistered in these living walls of jet
Though use make you apt to kill me,
Let not to that self murder added be,
And sacrilege, three sins in killing three.
Cruel and sudden, hast thou since
Purpled thy nail in blood of innocence?
Wherein could this flea guilty be
Except in that drop which it sucked from thee?
Yet thou triumph'st, and sayest that thou
Find'st not thyself, nor me, the weaker now.
'Tis true, then learn how false fears be;
Just so much honour, when thou yield'st to me,
Will waste, as this flea's death took life from thee.
Once you have read through the poem, I would like you to look at this video, which discusses the imagery and explains some ways of reading it.
I would like you to make notes on this poem, and thus prepare for Friday's class, when we shall be considering the section on 'Metaphor' in the Critical Anthology, and discussing if 'the Flea' is a poem where the elaborate nature of the extended metaphor is more overpowering than enabling.
To show that you have actually looked at the blog, please put a comment on what you thought of the poem (and the discussion) beneath--remember to use pseudonyms for anonymity!
Hi Dr McCarthy,
ReplyDeleteI found the poem interesting if a bit revolting. I wonder how long Donne spent meditating on different animals before he thought of the metaphor with the flea?
Though the metaphor is elaborate, it is strangely accurate, and the situation is believable, especially in the 17th Century.
Donne's purpose in writing the poem is all too clear, but I don't think it would have been very effective - its bullying, pretentious tone seems to put the woman down, not make her feel loved.
Like much of "To His Mistris Going to Bed" I think this poem uses quite ridiculously hyperbolic metaphor. For this reason I found it quite funny, but maybe as a 17th Century audience the grandiose metaphor of a flea was considered charming - and I have to admit, very creative.
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