The Flea by John Donne Essay -- The Flea John Donne Songs and Sonnets

The Flea by John DonneThe Flea, a headty poesy of seduction and conceit, taken from JohnDonnes Songs and Sonets is the poem that I get down chosen to compargonto Song, anformer(a) poem of John Donnes where he is passionatelypleading with his wife not to be disheartened about his departureabroad. Both poems which belong to Songs and Sonets, written around the quantify of the 16th century, show that their title suggests they are bothshort poems, pursuit the traditional form of a sonnet, consisting offourteen lines. However, they are not songs in the congregationalsense we think of and none of them are written as a sonnet. In fact,Donnes poems were intended for circulation around his local pub,capital of Nebraskas Inn, where he could impress his male friends with his off-color poetical nature. The Flea, emphatically rejects the Petrarchan tradition of lovepoetry, where the woman is seen as a goddess, an object lens of desireworth worshipping by a man. Instead, Donne wrote poem s that saw theearthy globe of sexual relations between a man and woman. The poem,whose historical convention probably started with Ovid, shows that itwas common in Elizabethan times to envy a flea for its access to thefemale body. Donne throughout the poem makes references to the flea,presenting a conceit produced of wit, law and persuasion.The title, which presents the conceit, is in fact the structure of thepoem, the entire poem depends on this conceit. At first, this is apuzzling image to the reader, it seems bizarre and inappropriate. However, as the poem continues, Donnes argument does also, and we seehow reality is conveyed by the vivid imagery of the flea. Donne usesa three-part syllogism in this poem whic... ...while, they will always have each other in each others hearts, andthat they will never sincerely be parted. His final argument ofpersuasion is that they dont rightfully need the physical presence, aslong as there is the consider of trust then he will return to he r oncemore. Overall, by the structure and language used in Song, the poem is precise consoling and reassuring. Compared to The Flea, it is verydifferent as the respect for the women the two poems are written fordiffer enormously. Indeed both poems are extremely dexterous andlogical, with well thought out ideas for argument and persuasion, andare full of wit and clever analogies. However, Song shows adifferent side to John Donnes character than The Flea presents, heappears more softer and respectful, consoling and loving than when heappears bawdy and obscene, shallow and disrespectful.