John Donne- The Flea

In ‘The Flea,’ Donne presents the speaker’s attempt to persuade his lover to surrender to his sexual desires.
The poet manages form, structure and language with such ease that, at first, rhythmic structure is unnoticed and the poet’s ingenious exploitation of meter and rhetoric seems but the masterful voice of a living male speaker.
The poet develops one of his most famous and memorable conceits in this poem. You might like to examine similarities and differences between ‘The Flea’ and another Metaphysical poem which exploits the concept of ‘carpe diem,’ Andrew Marvell’s ‘To His Coy Mistress’ (written in the 1650s).
In the first two stanzas, gender roles are traditional - the speaker fulfils the male role - to pursue, to possess, to dominate - and weaves an intricate argument whilst his silent lover fulfils the traditional female role - to abstain, to resist, to submit.
Donne’s male speaker attempts to command the female listener’s attention, and certainly captures the reader’s ear.
The poet exploits imperative verbs to establish a firm, instructional tone: “Mark but this flea, and mark in this” but the use of the verb, “deny’st” alludes to…

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