The Flea By John Donne Analysis

It can be quite arduous to compile incongruous, but yet concomitant literary context en masse. However, particular belletristic devices can be utilized to obtain such an ambition. Within this analysis, I will attempt to examine the key conceptualization of various themes within the metaphysical poem, The Flea, written by John Donne. According to Abrams (1999, p.170) a “Theme is sometimes used interchangeably with "motif," but the term is more usefully applied to a general concept or doctrine, whether implicit or asserted, which an imaginative work is designed to incorporate and make persuasive to the reader.”
Supposedly, the most evident theme that can be discovered within the poem is that of sex. ‘Marriage’ throughout the text is simply a
Donne utilizes the insect as an exemplification to express how his beloved has refused him of something he believes to be so insignificant. His persistency becomes more incontrovertible when Donne (1633) states “And in this flea our two bloods mingled be;” (line 4) elucidating a validity in the speaker’s eyes through the creation of a new bond that has been made within the flea linking them together. This compels a display of the metaphysical theme of this poetry well indubitable or perceptible, in which Donne takes something so miniscule, such as the flea, and employs it as a tool of further persuasion by voicing “Thou know’st that this cannot be said/A sin, or shame, or loss of maidenhead,/Yet this enjoys before it woo.”(Donne 1633, lines 5-7). In other words, the speaker is clearly on a pestilent endeavor of seduction toward his beloved. He tries to achieve this by speculating manipulation onto his beloved’s cognitive beliefs on sex or further physical relations by exploiting the tiniest inconsequential entity as a representation. Here, the flea is offered to