“The Flea1”

Donne’s poem “The Flea1”

Mark2 but this flea, and mark in this,

How little that which thou3 deniest4 me is;

It sucked me first, and now sucks thee,

And in this flea, our two bloods mingled be5;

Thou know’st that this cannot be said

A sin, nor sham nor loss of maidenhead,

  Yet this enjoys before it woo6,

  And pampered swells with one blood made of two7,

  And this, alas, is more than we would do.

Oh stay, three lives in one flea spare,

Where we almost, yea more than married are.

This flea is you and I, and this

Our marriage bed, and marriage temple is;

Though parents grudge, and you, we are met,

And cloistered in these living walls of jet8.

  Though use make you apt to kill me,

  Let not to that, self murder added be9,

  And sacrilege, three sins in killing three.

Cruel and sudden, hast thou since

Purpled thy nail, in blood of innocence?

Wherein could this flea guilty be,

Except in that drop which it sucked from thee?

Yet thou triumph’st, and say’st that thou

Find’st not thy self, nor me the weaker now;

  ‘Tis true, then learn how false, fears be;

  Just so much honor, when thou yield’st to me,

  Will waste, as this flea’s death took life from thee.10

 QUESTION: identify the speaker, audience, and rhetorical situation. Summarize the poem and describe the voice and tone