The Flea - John Donne

Ok so I'm cheating a little bit - I'm writing this entry after we've discussed the poem in class. But I feel like it's okay because now that I know exactly what the poem is saying, I get so much more out of it. This class just blows me away, and I seriously can't wait to come back every day to hear more of this amazing decoding.

This does seriously seem like the ultimate pick-up line. "Hey baby, let's do it because chances are we've both had the blood sucked out of us by the same flea, so it's like we've already done it." Now knowing what it means though (and despite the fact that it's so witty and amazing), I almost want to slap Donne. I do like how he wrote a clever poem to get back at society. But he's oppressing the woman in this case it seems. He makes her the one who sins, not he. Shouldn't he be equally blamed? And he's already talking about marriage whatever...wouldn't she just slap him and walk away after the first stanza? Who wants to marry someone who's putting them in a position like that? As clever as it is, I'm almost mad.

Man, now thinking about it, this poem makes me more mad than impressed. Even though secretly, deep inside, I still am amazed that people had this type of thought process - this is some profound stuff!