Metaphysical Siphonaptera Poetry
Saturday, January 17th, 2009I’ve wanted to take a look at the portrayl of insects in society and had intended to start with how they are used in computer games and looking at how accurately they are represented. I was recently impressed by the scorpions in Fallout 3 which even had pectines!
For now I shall start with something a little older. Whilst cataloguing some books I came across one on metaphysical poetry and one of the poems it contained was John Donne’s (1572-1631) ‘The Flea’ which is full of sexual and religious imagery, not something you first think of when you think about fleas.
The Flea
Mark but this flea, and mark in this,
How little that which thou deny’st me is ;
It suck’d me first, and now sucks thee,
And in this flea, our two bloods mingled be;
Thou know’st that this cannot be said
A sin, nor shame, nor loss of maidenhead ;
Yet this enjoys before it woo,
And pamper’d swells with one blood made of two ;
And this, alas, is more than we would do.
O 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’re met,
And cloister’d in these living walls of jet.
Though use make you apt to kill me,
Let not to that self-murder added be,
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 suck’d from thee?
Yet thou triumph’st, and say’st that thou
Find’st not thyself nor me the weaker now.
‘Tis true, then learn how false fears be;
Just so much honour, when thou yield’st to me,
Will waste, as this flea’s death took life from thee.
If you would like to read a summary of the poem you can at SparkNotes.
It’s interesting to note that fleas were often written about in 16th and 17th century European poetry, but I suppose people saw them more often than we do now. I can’t recall any modern poetry about fleas!
