Hi guys,
So today we took up a poem called "The Flea" by John Donne. This poem is mainly about love and there are a lot of small details that can be used as symbolism, just like a flea. For the flea, he says, has sucked his blood first, and then her blood, so that now, inside the flea, they are mingled as if there is a connection between the three. His beloved moves to kill the flea, the speaker raises his hand, asking her not to kill the flea, because it has 3 lives in it: his life, her life, and the flea’s own life. The speaker calls his beloved cruel and sudden after she has killed the flea and in a way he is trying to show her that if she slept with him and didn't follow tradition she would lose no more honor than she lost when she killed the flea(as if she is trying to deny him). It's a great poem, but I found it hard to understand when I read it for the first time.
Ahaha, our group assumed it was about a baby!
ReplyDeleteWe have to remember that not all poems are metaphorical.
Thanks, Omar for starting off the online discussion. I hope that by the end of the course everyone will at some point use this space to ask questions or add to our ongoing discussions about literature.
ReplyDeleteSarah brings up a good point. I'll try to address "Occam's Razor," a philosophical principle, in our next poetry discussion.
I still can't believe that we thought it was about a baby! I'm so used to poems being metaphorical that when they are literal I can't see it.
ReplyDeleteOckam's Razor - I remember that from Philosophy. Good principle and it would be interesting to see how it ties into poetry.
-Kattawe
Yeah I for sure did not understand the poem when I read it in class. But after we discussed it in class, and I looked back at the poem, it all came together, and made perfect sense.
ReplyDeleteHmnn... Anonymous? You'll have to give me initials, at least, so that I can make sure you get credit for your participation.
ReplyDelete