Explication: The Flea

John Donne’s poem “The Flea” is probably sexiest 17th century poem you will ever read. It could be considered the first poetic instance of a young man using a ridiculous argument to try to convince a woman to go to bed with him. The poem focuses on a flea that has bitten two lovers, so that their blood combines it. The narrator claims that this mixture of blood, “one blood made of two” (9), is the same as sexual intercourse. He argues that since the lovers have metaphorically consummated, (and even produced a child!) within the flea with no ill effect, then there should be no consequences to performing the same act without the intermediary of the flea, i.e. in real life.

Donne uses the device of conceit, or an elaborately sustained metaphor between two unlike things to advance the argument. The conceit is introduced when Donne compares the union of blood within the body of the flea to the sexual act. The conceit is sustained as the flea becomes a microcosm for the world outside the flea. Because the lovers are “cloistered in these living walls of jet” (15), they have formed a union that can be compared to marriage.
“Oh stay, three lives in one flea spare (11), writes Donne. The three lives mentioned here insinuate that a child has come out of the “marriage," which also gives further evidence that the couple has indeed consummated their love within the microcosmic world of the flea-- consummation being necessary for procreation. This microcosm is continued through the second stanza, at the end of which the young lady is warned not to kill the flea because she will be “killing” their family.
In the third stanza the young lady does kill the flea, getting blood on her nail. But even though she has killed the flea, the narrator claims that she “Find’st not they self nor me the weaker now” (24). The microcosm within the flea has been destroyed, but neither of the lovers are worse for the wear with their figurative selves destroyed.

Even though the fact that the death of the lovers within the flea doesn't seem to have any effect in the real word could potentially contradict Donne’s argument, he actually uses this to further the conceit. Because he had feared that harm would arise from killing the flea, and yet there was none, the young woman should cease her worries. Without consequence to the union within the flea, or in the killing of the flea, there should not be any consequence for a sexual union in real life: “Just so much honor, when thou yield’st to me,/ Will waste, as this flea’s death took life from thee” ( 26-27).
What Donne hopes to achieve as narrator of the poem is sexual contact with the lady, who is portrayed as a virgin. “A sin, or shame, or loss of maidenhead” (6), the sexual interaction that the flea enjoys, is “alas, more than we would do" (9). Within the poem, the flea is allowed liberties that the man is not. What Donne hopes to achieve as a poet is somewhat different. The conceit of the flea equaling consummation serves to showcase the wit of the poet, the skill employed in not only creating the metaphor but in managing to sustain it throughout the entire poem.

"The Flea" compares quite differently to traditional metaphors of love. It likens it to an unusual metaphor, a parasite, rather than something of beauty, like springtime, flowers, or the outdoors, all common images of love poetry during the time.
The poem is very sensual, even sexual, contrary to how most 17th century writers described love and desire. Rather than making love out to be something that is pure and lofty, Donne alludes quite freely to the act of sex. “The Flea” speaks about the act of conception, virginity, and the “marriage bed” (13), in a surprising manner for the time, and indeed one could argue, even in the modern day.

God's Grandeur

1)
One theme could be the power of Nature.  The poem states that the world has the power to act. "it will flame out", "it gathers". It notices that Nature has the power to rejuvenate, and regenerate itself.

2)
The simile in line 2 says the shook foil will shine out like flame. Or in other words, the earth has a power to shine out, but it is being used. The poem references there is a higher power and it's best wepon is Nature. This simile represents the bolts of lighting Zeus would use to battle the giants.

3)
"Reck his rod" in line 4 symbolizes some kind of fall. The poem staes that there is some kind of power, then says, 'crushed? why not loose it and give up?' "Spent" in line 9 represents time and the importance of time in Nature. It is important that Nature is used as a tool of survival and not a means of power. "Bent" in line 13 states that the world is in a bent, or sloped, position and hints that it may be a cause of Nature being used as a means of gaining power.

Travelling Through the Dark

1)
The speaker was driving along, hit a "deer", and moved it off the road, into a river off an edge.
I put deer in quotations because a dear could mean more than an animal. The phrase deer in the headlights is a common phrase to describe people who are oblivious, and it is no coinsidence dear and deer are only one letter apart. Swerve in line 4 relates with swerve in line 17 because line 4 says to swerve means more dead. This is why he hesitates, but he knows "it's usually best to push them into the canyon."

2)
The car is always referenced with a lot of  imagery. The "glow of the tail-light" "the car aimed ahead it's lowered parking lights; under the hood purred the steady engine. I stood in the glare of the warm exhaust truning red" This does have  symbolic refference that comes alive when the speaker says "swerve". It relates to the car, when at rest the engine purrs, it's stable, but it recently has been going wrekless. It could be a symbol linking the speaker to the car.

3)
There doesn't seem to be a rhyme to the last stanza in the poem.

The Flea

1)
Preceding the first line of the poem, a flea had taken blood from two lovers and didn't leave the room. Between the first and second stanzas, the speaker trys to seduce his lover using the flea as a symbol of their love. Between the second and third, his motive was unclear, or unaffective on his lover and he resorts to the blunt truth: he's gon' tap dat. She squashes the flea and says, "there, now we're no weaker than before!"

2)
The speaker feels she should've respected his analogy better. His motive was to make her feel more in love with him and then reward him with sexual play. However, she seems to look the other way and this makes him feel insignificant, or unimportant, or maybe just plain hurt.

3)
"Look at this flea
it bit me, and then it bit you
and now we are one inside this flea.
See, look at him, he's so happy right now
because we're inside him mingling.
We should be like that!"

I think that has pleanty of logic. Love is strange game in which you can cheat the ways of physics in order to achive some spiritual gain. You can't litterally mix two people, but two people in love can be one.

4)
I really don't know the answer to this question...

The parent's grudge is against her taking part in sexual intercourse?
She killed their love and...two other things...and those are the sins...?

5)
Basically by killing the flea, she says it doesn't make them any less in love. Of course he just went out on a limb trying to tell her how important this flea is. He does agree the flea didn't litterally make them more in love, but his reaction is, "wow thanks for taking what i said into deep consideration and thank you for respecting that." (sarcasm)

6)
Bom chicka wow wow, nooky, whoopee, bonking, boinking, boffing, a roll in the hay, quickie, coitus...
Or maybe he got pissed off that she didn't respect his creativity and left.

7)
I vote this one doesn't count...

Lit Terms

Antagonist - noun
Function: a person who actively opposes or is hostile to someone or something; an adversary
Example: The Joker is the antagonist of Batman
 
Analogy - noun ( pl. -gies)
Function:  a comparison between two things, typically on the basis of their structure and for the purpose of explanation or clarification
Example: King Hrothgar could be a Robin Hood figure because of the way he treats the people under him

Lit Terms

Allusion - noun
Function: an expression designed to call something to mind without mentioning it explicitly; an indirect or passing reference

Example: The Simpsons television show constantly refers to (some may say, steals from) movies, music, literature etc. In a scene where Principal Skinner is in his office, he suddenly turns to his window and looks out at an old, spooky house while he talks about a tormented relationship with his mother. This is an allusion to the Norman Bates character in the movie Psycho.

Ambiguity - noun ( pl. -ties)
Function: uncertainty or inexactness of meaning in language
Example: I can't tell you how excited I enjoyed meeting your dog

The Man He Killed

1)
a former British coin and monetary unit equal to two shillings and sixpence

2)
He says because twice to emphasize the clarity of his reason. He begins to say it with his own words, then stops and says it in the words he was trained to use. He repeats himself, saying his foe is indeed his foe, for his own sanity. He is making the distiction between the two that they are to not be friends and it is okay to kill him. When he ends the stanza with "although" it brings up a question. Ie. I really don't want to go to the snowball fight because I have homework, although... This could be ended with it would be really fun so I'm in. Although brings up a situation.

3)
Thomas Hardy's poem 'The Man He Killed' focusses on the senselessness and futility of war, where a man has killed another quite simply because they were fighting on opposing sides in a war.
Written in the first person from the standpoint of one of the soldiers, the first stanza expresses the idea that the two men who fought would, had they in other circumstances met each other outside a pub, have enjoyed a few drinks ('right many a nipperkin') together. Yet it becomes clear in the second stanza that they in fact met as foot soldiers on opposing sides in a battle, and being confronted with each other, one had to die. The two men shot at each other, and the narrator's shot fatally injured the other man.

My Last Duchess

1)
favor- an attitude of approval or liking
officious- assertive of authority in an annoyingly domineering way
munificence- larger or more generous than is usual or necessary

2)
He is speaking to the people under his wife-to-be's Duke. They are at his his house on business to talk about the wedding. The remarks he makes tell that he killed his wife because she didn't show him more love than she did anyone else. It is hinted that he will do this to his next wife, if she acts the same.

3)
He is rich and self-centered. He feels that his wife's only purpose in life should be to please him and listen to him, not anybody else. This is a dramatic irony.

4)
The Duke is definitely full of himself and feels everyone else should be full of him too. He is, however, sexually jealous that his wife flirts with other men. She isn't flirting on purpose, it's just in her personality to be so kind and happy.

5)
The Duke doesn't think of art very sincerely. He looks at art and relates it to his own life; the painting to his ex-wife, Neptune to him, and the seahorses to her joyous outlook on life and to the beauty that art really is.

6)
She was killed. It isn't relevant how she was killed, but the fact that the Duke killed her, and is now planning another wedding, is important. By telling his new wife he killed his old wife because he didn't like her hints at his craziness.

The Road Not Taken

1) The poem is about taking two different paths in life. One is nicer than the other, which means there is a rough path and a smooth path in life. He chooses the path less travelled, which is the good path. He sighs because he knows to be on the right path, you have to do the right things all the time, which isn't always as fun as being a little rebbelious sometimes. He doesn't regret taking this path, but regrets that he must follow the rules of the road rather than take the bad path and wear himself out just as the path is.

2) People are shaped by their surroundings. If there is a good path and a bad path, and he takes the good path, he could end up with a steady job, happy family and be respected. If he took the bad path he could've got cought up in drugs, gangs or gone banrupt and forced to live on the streets.

Lit Terms

Term: Allegory; (N) a story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one

Example: AVATAR! There are obvious layers of allegory in the movie Avatar. The Pandora woods are a lot like the Amazon rain forest (the movie stops in its tracks for a heavy ecological speech or two), and the attempt to get the Na'vi to 'cooperate' carries overtones of the U.S. involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Function: An author would reach the reader on a personal level by using imagery to catch their attention, then with the use of allegory, relate the story to a larger idea. Allegory could be used to persuade and/or inform, through the use of entertainment.

Term:Alliteration; (N) the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words.

Example: Jacob jumped jubilantly, justifying Jesse's job.

Function: Alliteration occurs when the initial sounds of a word, beginning either with a consonant or a vowel, are repeated in close succession. The function of alliteration, like rhyme, might be to accentuate the beauty of language in a given context, or to unite words or concepts through a kind of repetition. Alliteration, like rhyme, can follow specific patterns. Sometimes the consonants aren't always the initial ones, but they are generally the stressed syllables. Alliteration is less common than rhyme, but because it is less common, it can call our attention to a word or line in a poem that might not have the same emphasis otherwise.

Lit Devices: Epigram/Sarcasm

Epigram: a pithy saying or remark expressing an idea in a clever and amusing way.

Example:

"I am unable, yonder beggar cries,
To stand, or move; if he say true, he lies."
A Lame Begger by John Donne


Sarcasm: the use of irony to mock or convey comtempt

Example:

"Well aren't you just one big ray of sunshine this morning!"