I am amazed that this poem is not on this site! It is my favorite John Donne poem.

It's still under copyright, Melissa.

He jests.

Ok, Melissa, now it is on this site:

The Flea
John Donne

Mark but this flea, and mark in this,
How little that which thou deny'st me is;
It sucked 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 pampered swells with one blood made of two,
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, w'are met,
And cloistered 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 sucked 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 honor, when thou yield'st to me,
Will waste, as this flea's death took life from thee

Les

Thank you, lg!

Mine's the Compass, but I can never find it.

Peter




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ok, so it's not peanut butter

Conside A. Marvell:

Metaphysicals

320 THE GOLDEN TREASURY
For Fate with jealous eye does see
Two perfect loves, nor lets them close;
Their union would her ruin be,
And her tyrannic pow'r depose.


And therefore her decrees of steel
Us as the distant poles have plac'd,
(Though Love's whole world on us does wheel)
Not by themselves to be embrac'd

Unless the giddy heaven fall
And earth some new convulsion tear,
And, us to join, the world should all
Be cramp'd into a planisphere.

As lines so loves oblique may well
Themselves in every angle greet;
But ours so truly parallel,
Though infinite can never meet.


Therefore the love which doth us bind,
But Fate so enviously debars,
Is the conjunction of the mind,
And opposition of the stars.

Andrew Marvell

Lines, After a Definition in lines of Love (fragment) by Another Marvell


For Fate with jealous pie does see
Two parfait loves, nor lets them loose;
Their union would my ruin be,
And her gelatinous pow'r goosed.

And therefore her decrees of steal
Us as the distant Poles have placid,
(Though Love's whole weld on us does wheel and deal)
Not by themselves to be embarrass’d.

Unless the giddy haven fell
And earth some new convolutions bare
And, us to join, the will should all
Be cramp'd into a planisphere.

As lines in love’s oblique may well
Themselves in every other mean streak,
Angle nut ours so truly parallel,
Though infinite can never to each other speak.

Therefore the love which makes us blind,
Rancorous Fate so enviously debars,
In the conjunction of the mind,
And opposition of the stars.

A. Nonymous, The Bronze Leftovers

-- please ignore the rubbings, ed. i. ought



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ok, it's not peanut butter

If he can convince this girl to go to bed with him using a flea, just think what he could do with a cockroach!

pam

ouch!

what three arguements is the poet's mistress bombarded by in the second stanza can anyone tell me please?