What is living walls of jet?
Donne writes, Though parents grudge, and you, we are met,/ And cloistered in these living walls of jet. The speaker is trying to convince a lady to have an illicit tryst with him, and this line shows that he is being sneaky and sly because they are somewhere dark and secretive.
What are the three sins in the flea?
But, he says, if she kills the flea she will be committing no fewer than three separate sins: murder, suicide (self murder), and sacrilege (or disrespecting the faith).
What does the second stanza of the flea mean?
By the second stanza, the speaker is trying to save the flea’s life, holding it up as our marriage bed and marriage temple.
What does the first stanza in the flea mean?
In the very first line of ‘The Flea,’ the poet-lover asks his beloved to observe the flea carefully.She should notice that first, it sucked his blood and then hers, and in this way, their blood mingles in its body, as they do in sexual intercourse.
What does Jet wall mean?
Donne writes, Though parents grudge, and you, we are met,/ And cloistered in these living walls of jet. The speaker is trying to convince a lady to have an illicit tryst with him, and this line shows that he is being sneaky and sly because they are somewhere dark and secretive.
What is the paradox of the flea?
In The Flea by John Donne, the paradox that the speaker presents concerns a flea that has bitten both him and the woman he is trying to seduce.
What does the flea symbolize in the flea?
John Donne’s poem, ‘The Flea’ is a metaphor for sex. The speaker shows a flea to a woman he wants to sleep with, and states that the flea has combined them into one by biting them both and sucking their blood. A metaphor for sex, the flea has bitten both the speaker and the woman and their blood is mixed together.
How does the flea represent three lives in one?
For instance, the speaker describes the flea as three lives in one. This is in reference to the fact that the flea contains the blood of the speaker, the mistress, and of the flea itself, but it’s also an allusion to the Holy Trinity: the Father (God), the Son (Jesus), and the Holy Ghost.
Who are the characters in the flea?
The Flea is structured to mirror the three protagonists, flea, man and woman, so there are three rhyming couplets, a triplet in each stanza and three stanzas. In the first stanza the speaker is cool and logical and uses mostly plain, positive language to highlight the flea’s actions.
What is the meaning of the poem flea?
John Donne’s poem, ‘The Flea’ is a metaphor for sex. The speaker shows a flea to a woman he wants to sleep with, and states that the flea has combined them into one by biting them both and sucking their blood. A metaphor for sex, the flea has bitten both the speaker and the woman and their blood is mixed together.
How many stanzas are in the flea?
three stanzas
How does the argument of the flea change in each stanza?
Within the flea, the speaker argues, he and the beloved are more than married, enclosed within the flea’s body, rather exotically described as living walls of jet. But somewhere between stanzas 2 and 3, the beloved kills the flea: its innocent blood has purpled her nail.
How a flea is a marriage bed?
The flea contains the essence of both people, and their blood meets like two newlyweds in their wedding bed. The speaker pushes the religious envelope further by describing the flea’s body as a temple in which their marriage is consecrated.
