Last Lines Of The Stanza The Speaker example essay topic

John Donne an English poet and clergyman was one of the greatest metaphysical poets. His poetry was marked by conceits and lush imagery. The Flea is an excellent example of how he was able to establish a parallel between two very different things. In this poem, the speaker tries to seduce a young woman by comparing the consequences of their lovemaking with those of an insignificant fleabite. He uses the flea as an argument to illustrate that the physical relationship he desires is not in itself a significant event, because a similar union has already taken place within the flea. However, if we look beneath the surface level of the poem, Donne uses the presence of the flea as a comparison to the presence of a baby, thus making the sub textual plot about aborting the baby.

In the first stanza of the poem, the speaker develops similarities between the fleabite and lovemaking. The first two lines of the poem, "Mark but this flea, and mark in this, How little that, which thou deny " st me, is"; I interpreted to mean that the woman doesn't deny the flea access to her body, yet she denies the advancements of the speaker. Next the speaker uses conceit to illustrate the similarities between their lovemaking and the mingling of their blood within the flea. "Me is sucked first, and now sucks the, An in this flea our two bloods mingled be". The speaker uses this argument to show the woman that the same physical exchange, which takes place between her and a flea, is the same type of union that he is proposing.

The speaker uses the following lines of the stanza to reassure the woman that their act could not be considered a sin because a fleabite isn't considered as such. Such a common event cannot be a loss of innocence because if that were true nearly everyone would have lost his or her innocence. Therefore this lady should not worry about giving herself to him before they marry, because their only act is the mixing pf their blood. The final lines of the first stanza are the point in which the poet introduces the sub textual idea of the baby. "And pampered swells with one blood made of two". On the surface this line describes the physical changes that happen to a flea's body after it fills with blood.

These lines also suggest that the swelling may mean pregnancy. The speaker then tries to persuade her that this "swelling" is more than they wish to accomplish with their encounter by proclaiming "And this, alas! Is more than we would do". In the second stanza of the poem the woman is about to remove the flea from her body. Sub textually in this stanza the woman has become pregnant and wants to end her pregnancy, which will also end her relationship with the speaker. The speaker's attention focuses on arguments to persuade her to spare the baby.

"Oh stay, three lives in one flea spare, Where we almost, nay more than married are". The speaker tries to spare the baby by saying that the baby's life has joined them eternally, the same way marriage would join them. "This flea is you and I, and this our marriage bed and marriage temple is". Therefore, the result of this union cannot be considered a sin.

The next lines in the stanza describe how the woman is an unwilling to accept his explanation of marriage. "Though parents grudge, and you, we are met, and cloistered in these living walls of jet". In the last lines of the stanza the speaker tells the woman that she may want to end the baby's life because the baby is his, "Though use make you apt to kill me, Let not to that, self-murder added be", but if she does end the baby's life she will also be ending the part of the baby that is her. The second stanza ends with the speaker explaining that to end this pregnancy would be in violation of their sacred union and thus she would be killing the three lives within the baby. In the last stanza, the woman has ended her pregnancy. "Cruel and sudden, hast thou since Purpled thy nail in blood of innocence?" This line is a graphic portrayal of the first moments of the abortion.

The act was quick and then the blood of the innocent child was spilled. The speaker continues by pointing out the innocence of the child. He asks "Wherein could this flea be guilty be, except in that drop, which it sucked from thee? In this line, I interpret the speaker's actions to me equivalent to him pointing an accusatory finger at the woman as if to say, that the only thing this baby did wrong was in choosing you as its mother. The next three lines the speaker tells the woman that she may feel that she has triumphed over the situation because she has found a solution.

However, he warns her that this solution has made her weak. She may think that she was strong and made a good decision, but the speaker points out that there is more honor in facing problems head on rather than getting rid of them. The last line of the poem, "Will waste, as this flea's death took life from thee", points out to the woman that in ending her pregnancy she has also ended part of her own life, and the life she gave to her child. This poem is and excellent example of John Donne's work. On the surface he uses conceit to paint a beautiful dedication to his love for one woman and his attempt in seducing her. In the sub text, he uses conceit to illustrate how the woman in the poem identifies the flea and the baby both as parasites that invade her body.

I find his use of unusual parallels intriguing. The meaning of his poems change depending on the mood of the reader, the surface level becomes prominent with an optimistic reader, while the sub textual level becomes dominate to a reader who is less optimistic and is able to see the unattractive side of the world.