{"content":{"sharePage":{"page":0,"digests":[{"id":"19727437","dateCreated":"1265255633","smartDate":"Feb 3, 2010","userCreated":{"username":"yongminc10","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/yongminc10","imageUrl":"https:\/\/ssl.wikicdn.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"},"monitored":false,"locked":false,"links":{"self":"https:\/\/kisapenglporter2009-10.wikispaces.com\/share\/view\/19727437"},"dateDigested":1532169288,"startDate":null,"sharedType":"discussion","title":"Flea - vampire","description":"The flea is a detested organism. It is an unwanted parasite that slyly lingers on the veneer and sucks drops of your blood. Now, anything that draws blood for survival is a vampire! As Foster wrote in his book, vampires do not always appear in writing in black capes and pale white skin.
\n
\nSo what does Donne accomplish by alluding to vampires in his poem? Remember Dracula? Donne evokes the notion of sexual intercourse - it represents the exchange of bodily fluids that takes place in sex."This flea is you and I, and this
\nOur marriage bed, and marriage temple is." This line attests to my point - Donne draws a parallel between the flea and the marriage bed. Hence, the flea represents the physical intimacy between two lovers. It is in this "cloistered jet" where the lovers form their connection. Hence, Donne evokes "guilt" throughout his poem. It may refer to the guilt that the flea feels, but it also refers to the sin of sexual activity.","replyPages":[{"page":0,"digests":[{"id":"19728409","body":"I think this is really interesting. It makes perfect sense that the flea represents the dracula.Viewing the flea as the dracula, makes the story and symbolism make more sense than it did before.","dateCreated":"1265258321","smartDate":"Feb 3, 2010","userCreated":{"username":"yura","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/yura","imageUrl":"https:\/\/ssl.wikicdn.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"}}],"more":0}]},{"id":"19712299","dateCreated":"1265238373","smartDate":"Feb 3, 2010","userCreated":{"username":"yura","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/yura","imageUrl":"https:\/\/ssl.wikicdn.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"},"monitored":false,"locked":true,"links":{"self":"https:\/\/kisapenglporter2009-10.wikispaces.com\/share\/view\/19712299"},"dateDigested":1532169289,"startDate":null,"sharedType":"discussion","title":"Symbol","description":"When I read this poem, I was wondering what flea meant. At first I was thinking of a FLEA market, but as I read the part where it talks about two bloods mingling together, I realized the meaning of flea as the insect. Yet, the poetry sounded in way sexual so I was thinking that the flea was the symbol of a baby, a product of two people.","replyPages":[{"page":0,"digests":[],"more":0}]},{"id":"19711583","dateCreated":"1265237678","smartDate":"Feb 3, 2010","userCreated":{"username":"jshen123","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/jshen123","imageUrl":"https:\/\/ssl.wikicdn.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"},"monitored":false,"locked":true,"links":{"self":"https:\/\/kisapenglporter2009-10.wikispaces.com\/share\/view\/19711583"},"dateDigested":1532169289,"startDate":null,"sharedType":"discussion","title":"The use of flea","description":"Why out of all the insects\/bugs do you think insect was chosen to be connected to a theme such as romance and sex. Honestly, how many people actually got bit or even seen a flea in real life?","replyPages":[{"page":0,"digests":[{"id":"19712479","body":"I think flea was chosen because if for example, mosquito was used, it wouldn't have as much impact. I feel like flea is a mysterious insect because we don't talk about it often. Moreover, it's this mysteriousness that lets us know that the flea is a symbol.","dateCreated":"1265238548","smartDate":"Feb 3, 2010","userCreated":{"username":"yura","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/yura","imageUrl":"https:\/\/ssl.wikicdn.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"}}],"more":0}]},{"id":"19683893","dateCreated":"1265213185","smartDate":"Feb 3, 2010","userCreated":{"username":"sarahjang","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/sarahjang","imageUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/pic\/1222755549\/sarahjang-lg.jpg"},"monitored":false,"locked":true,"links":{"self":"https:\/\/kisapenglporter2009-10.wikispaces.com\/share\/view\/19683893"},"dateDigested":1532169289,"startDate":null,"sharedType":"discussion","title":"Sex. Significant or Insignificant?","description":"In some ways, I think this poem can be quite ironic.
\n
\nIn his poem, John Donne writes as if the sharing of blood (or sex) equals to marriage.
\nFor example, in the first stanza he writes,
\n
\nIt suck'd me first, and now sucks thee,
\nAnd in this flea our two bloods mingled be.
\nThou know'st that this cannot be said
\nA sin, nor shame, nor loss of maidenhead ;
\n
\n
\n
\nSince the blood is being mingled and Donne writes about maidenhead... I get where John Donne's trying to get to: sex.
\n
\nSo I initially thought, "Oh, what they're doing does equal to marriage and therefore is significant!"
\n
\nI mean, since John Donne writes that there are "three lives in one flea spare" and that this is "more than married are," it seemed that the mingling of the blood was really significant to the speaker-- enough to consider it as a marriage.
\n
\nBut then I realized that what the speaker of the poem is doing is represented as something as insignificant as a flea.
\n
\nAlthough in some lines the speaker refers to sex as if he or she thinks of it as something significant, i.e. "mingling of the blood" and "marriage," the speaker also seems to trivialize the act by saying,
\n "A sin, nor shame, nor loss of maidenhead ;
\nYet this enjoys before it woo,"
\n
\n
\n
\nIs the "mingling of the blood," or sex significant or insignificant in the poem?
\n
\nI mean... I concluded that John Donne's trying to trivialize the matter...but maybe others thought of it differently? :P","replyPages":[{"page":0,"digests":[{"id":"19712685","body":"I also think it's ironic because if sex were to represent marriage, it should be something that should be celebrated. However, the poet uses "flea" to represent the marriage. Yet, it is ironic because while marriage is something happy, the flea is a filthy creature. Hence, why would Donne use flea to represent a happy event?","dateCreated":"1265238774","smartDate":"Feb 3, 2010","userCreated":{"username":"yura","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/yura","imageUrl":"https:\/\/ssl.wikicdn.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"}}],"more":0}]},{"id":"19681473","dateCreated":"1265210915","smartDate":"Feb 3, 2010","userCreated":{"username":"chaerij","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/chaerij","imageUrl":"https:\/\/ssl.wikicdn.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"},"monitored":false,"locked":false,"links":{"self":"https:\/\/kisapenglporter2009-10.wikispaces.com\/share\/view\/19681473"},"dateDigested":1532169289,"startDate":null,"sharedType":"discussion","title":"The Flea","description":"I believe that in this poem, John Donne is criticizing the idea of sex by using metaphors to compare sex and the flea. Donne makes his point that sex contains no meaning and is a wasteful and useless activity: "Just so much honour, when thou yield'st to me, Will waste, as this flea's death took life from thee". One thing for sure this poem is definitely not romantic (I personally would not want to here a guy say, "This flea is you and I"... it would make me feel unloved, and completely worth no value). I also don't think that this poem necessarily describes his desire for sex (as some people mentioned in their posts) because if he was for sex, he wouldn't symbolize it as a flea but rather a little more graceful and royal(?) creature such as a swan...)
\n
\nAlso, I couldn't help but compare this poem to Stoker's novel, Dracula because a flea is a blood sucking creature that needs blood in order to live.. not necessarily for the joy... if you replace the word flea with Dracula, it actually fits. Well, at least in my opinion :)","replyPages":[{"page":0,"digests":[{"id":"19682821","body":"Interesting how you disagree with most people's thoughts on the flea representing something sexual - I'm with you in that a flea is not the most attractive thing, but it could be that Donne meant to do this. He IS representing something sexual - just a negative aspect of it. Instead of sex being something beautiful, it's depicted as something of very little importance - something that merely spreads and mixes blood.","dateCreated":"1265212249","smartDate":"Feb 3, 2010","userCreated":{"username":"anniexbananie","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/anniexbananie","imageUrl":"https:\/\/ssl.wikicdn.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"}},{"id":"19699195","body":"I also like that you hold a different opinion from other people. But i think the only reason John donne used flea as the symbol is because it represents sex so well. "And in this flea our two bloods mingled be." What other insect would best represent this? I think flea,at least, is more romantic than mosquito.. But I agree that to us, it probably doesn't sound like a romantic poem.","dateCreated":"1265225815","smartDate":"Feb 3, 2010","userCreated":{"username":"syclair","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/syclair","imageUrl":"https:\/\/ssl.wikicdn.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"}},{"id":"19699693","body":"Oh and I would like to add that this poem is definitely about sex because it says "when thou yield'st to me" in the poem. And "yielding to" someone, at that time, meant having sex.
\nSo maybe they haven't done it yet, but John donne is expressing his desire to do it. Maybe that's why he makes that metaphor with the flea and the blood mingling? He wants to say that, "blood being mingled" is so common as a flea, but here we are, still haven't done it ourselves. Maybe John Donne's new wife is reluctant to have sex with him. o - o","dateCreated":"1265226337","smartDate":"Feb 3, 2010","userCreated":{"username":"syclair","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/syclair","imageUrl":"https:\/\/ssl.wikicdn.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"}},{"id":"19714307","body":"--","dateCreated":"1265240574","smartDate":"Feb 3, 2010","userCreated":{"username":"lporter","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/lporter","imageUrl":"https:\/\/ssl.wikicdn.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"}}],"more":0}]},{"id":"19675111","dateCreated":"1265204688","smartDate":"Feb 3, 2010","userCreated":{"username":"brians10","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/brians10","imageUrl":"https:\/\/ssl.wikicdn.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"},"monitored":false,"locked":false,"links":{"self":"https:\/\/kisapenglporter2009-10.wikispaces.com\/share\/view\/19675111"},"dateDigested":1532169290,"startDate":null,"sharedType":"discussion","title":"Poetic Language","description":"Just like some of the poems we read in class, this poem is making something huge out of something we usually don't even care about. The flea biting human beings sounds so romantic(?) and grandeur. What do you guys think?","replyPages":[{"page":0,"digests":[{"id":"19680067","body":"I agree. A flea is such an...unimportant..THING. It's not something we spend a lot of time thinking about so to have it represent something elaborate like love was kind of shocking. I had to read it twice until I was finally like, "Oh that's what it's about" because the first time I read it all I was thinking about was the word flea. The flea portrays an almost erotic image as the "his blood" and "her blood" within the flea hints at sex.","dateCreated":"1265209781","smartDate":"Feb 3, 2010","userCreated":{"username":"jenniferp22","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/jenniferp22","imageUrl":"https:\/\/ssl.wikicdn.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"}},{"id":"19680597","body":"I think that's the interesting twist in many of these poems we've been reading - the topics are random, the language is simple (if you don't try too hard to interpret it), and yet there's a deeper meaning behind every one of them. Although this poem deals with something as miniscule as a flea, Donne, using his poetic language, reveals the more significant idea of love. For example, the mixing of the blood of the flea and the narrator might relate to something much less simple: sex.","dateCreated":"1265210183","smartDate":"Feb 3, 2010","userCreated":{"username":"anniexbananie","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/anniexbananie","imageUrl":"https:\/\/ssl.wikicdn.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"}},{"id":"19681723","body":"I agree with the part that he makes a huge deal out of something that we are not necessarily passionate about but I disagree with the fact that it sounds romantic and grandeur. It seems almost grotesque and underestimated. "This flea is you and I, and this our marriage bed, and marriage temple is": this is definitely not romantic in my opinion.","dateCreated":"1265211128","smartDate":"Feb 3, 2010","userCreated":{"username":"chaerij","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/chaerij","imageUrl":"https:\/\/ssl.wikicdn.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"}},{"id":"19711453","body":"I also think that getting bit by flea is hardly noticeable by anyone because of its minimal value in human's life. The only thing we would think when we think about flea is small, dirty, irritating. But its connection to sex here is brilliant and awkward simultaneously","dateCreated":"1265237558","smartDate":"Feb 3, 2010","userCreated":{"username":"jshen123","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/jshen123","imageUrl":"https:\/\/ssl.wikicdn.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"}},{"id":"19712777","body":"The flea biting humans doesn't really sound romantic to me, but rather sexual. Although it's evident that the flea biting into two people and combining their blood represents marriage and sex, the use of blood and the creature, flea, deprives the romantic part of marriage. Moreover, it simply makes it sexual and somewhat filthy.","dateCreated":"1265238876","smartDate":"Feb 3, 2010","userCreated":{"username":"yura","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/yura","imageUrl":"https:\/\/ssl.wikicdn.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"}},{"id":"19714353","body":"--","dateCreated":"1265240631","smartDate":"Feb 3, 2010","userCreated":{"username":"lporter","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/lporter","imageUrl":"https:\/\/ssl.wikicdn.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"}}],"more":0}]},{"id":"19674517","dateCreated":"1265203633","smartDate":"Feb 3, 2010","userCreated":{"username":"Jessica_Y","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/Jessica_Y","imageUrl":"https:\/\/ssl.wikicdn.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"},"monitored":false,"locked":false,"links":{"self":"https:\/\/kisapenglporter2009-10.wikispaces.com\/share\/view\/19674517"},"dateDigested":1532169290,"startDate":null,"sharedType":"discussion","title":"The psychological perspective","description":"Many people have interpreted "The Flea" as a romantic relationship; I, too, encountered the romantic mood in this poem. However, I developed another interpretation that relates to the following line in the second stanza, "O stay, three lives in one flea spare". These three lives could be referring to the id, ego, and superego.
\n
\nDonne says at the end of the second stanza: "Let not to that self-murder
\nAnd sacrilege, three sins in killing three." This could be referring human ambition through these theoretical concepts of id, ego, and super-ego. Id, instinctual thinking, taints the "blood of innocence". On the other hand, the ego and super-ego can sometimes weaken the individual if he\/she is dependent on societal norms. Most likely, Donne did not mean to use Freudian concepts, so we can also interpret this poem as an internal conflict caused by these challenging three psychological processes.","replyPages":[{"page":0,"digests":[{"id":"19674953","body":"Very interesting.
\nAnd with that said, reading the poem over again, it does really make sense in every stanza. But can't this idea also relate to his sexual desires since it can be his instincts that makes him so desperate about his relationship but his ego and super-ego that kind of pulls him back. I'm not sure. But nice challenge. I like how you took a different route than others. ;P","dateCreated":"1265204385","smartDate":"Feb 3, 2010","userCreated":{"username":"lindsaylee","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/lindsaylee","imageUrl":"https:\/\/ssl.wikicdn.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"}},{"id":"19714281","body":"--","dateCreated":"1265240548","smartDate":"Feb 3, 2010","userCreated":{"username":"lporter","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/lporter","imageUrl":"https:\/\/ssl.wikicdn.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"}},{"id":"19724115","body":"Interesting point, Jessica :) While reading the poem, I realized the importance of the number '3' but I was not sure why it was emphasized until I read your idea about it relating to Freud's theory. I guess Freud always makes a poem unexpectedly have more depth in meaning.","dateCreated":"1265250607","smartDate":"Feb 3, 2010","userCreated":{"username":"rachelrox","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/rachelrox","imageUrl":"https:\/\/ssl.wikicdn.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"}},{"id":"19725579","body":"Besides the stanza Jessica mentioned, I'm confused how this fits in.. The parent part especially is hard to understand from this perspective.","dateCreated":"1265252538","smartDate":"Feb 3, 2010","userCreated":{"username":"LynnH91","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/LynnH91","imageUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/pic\/1202793136\/LynnH91-lg.jpg"}}],"more":0}]},{"id":"19674489","dateCreated":"1265203581","smartDate":"Feb 3, 2010","userCreated":{"username":"laurenleee","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/laurenleee","imageUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/pic\/1202793136\/laurenleee-lg.jpg"},"monitored":false,"locked":false,"links":{"self":"https:\/\/kisapenglporter2009-10.wikispaces.com\/share\/view\/19674489"},"dateDigested":1532169291,"startDate":null,"sharedType":"discussion","title":"Womanizer John Donne","description":"I researched about the author and he apparently had some period in his life when he was a womanizer. Having inherited a considerable fortune, young "Jack Donne" spent his money on womanizing, on books, at the theatre, and on travels. Maybe "The Flea" represents his view on feminism. He seems to see women as something that's used for his pleasure for a short time. He uses religious connotations however because he was very religious and struggling with the controversies back then. Weird though isn't? Religious but a womanizer.","replyPages":[{"page":0,"digests":[{"id":"19674607","body":"After his wife died, he earned a reputation as an eloquent preacher so I guess he was a philander until he married. He never re-married after his wife died and devoted his life to religion.","dateCreated":"1265203852","smartDate":"Feb 3, 2010","userCreated":{"username":"laurenleee","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/laurenleee","imageUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/pic\/1202793136\/laurenleee-lg.jpg"}},{"id":"19674839","body":"It seems like a good cover for being a womanizer. A preacher is the last person that anyone would expect to be a womanizer. I'm thinking that the flea's death can either be related to Christian values like Patrick wrote in another discussion or the idea that women can be "thrown" away after any mishap.","dateCreated":"1265204054","smartDate":"Feb 3, 2010","userCreated":{"username":"jasoncho92","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/jasoncho92","imageUrl":"https:\/\/ssl.wikicdn.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"}},{"id":"19680361","body":"I said this in another post but I think it fits here too :)
\n
\nThank you Lauren for looking that up :D
\nIt made me understand the poem a bit more.
\nJack Donne was a womanizer which means that he would've had a lot of women at the same time. The flea jumps around here and there mixing blood, which is sort of like a womanizer jumping from one woman to the next. It's interesting how he was a womanizer and then a pastor...I guess the flea can also mean the sin of lust because at the end of the poem, it dies. (Which is like Donne moving on to being a pastor)","dateCreated":"1265210055","smartDate":"Feb 3, 2010","userCreated":{"username":"lydiak","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/lydiak","imageUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/pic\/1202793136\/lydiak-lg.jpg"}},{"id":"19684249","body":"Oh, I see!!:) I just posted a question wondering if John Donne thinks of the "mingling of blood" as something significant or insignificant, but now that I know that John Donne was a womanizer...I guess he really was trivializing the matter, huh.","dateCreated":"1265213422","smartDate":"Feb 3, 2010","userCreated":{"username":"sarahjang","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/sarahjang","imageUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/pic\/1222755549\/sarahjang-lg.jpg"}},{"id":"19704589","body":"Lydia, I thought that it was very interesting how you compared the flea to a womanizer--it's fits really well.
\n
\nI don't think he thought of his wife when he wrote this poem, it doesn't mention anything about a past or a future, only the present. For some reason I feel like they haven't known each other for a long time; it's just a courtship. And, the word love does not appear on the poem--it is only lust that the speaker feels for the woman.
\n
\nDoes anyone get the image of a man and a woman sitting on a wooden table, and the man suddenly pulls out a flea and starts reciting the poem to the woman? :)","dateCreated":"1265231276","smartDate":"Feb 3, 2010","userCreated":{"username":"courteneykim","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/courteneykim","imageUrl":"https:\/\/ssl.wikicdn.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"}},{"id":"19714319","body":"--","dateCreated":"1265240590","smartDate":"Feb 3, 2010","userCreated":{"username":"lporter","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/lporter","imageUrl":"https:\/\/ssl.wikicdn.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"}},{"id":"19725387","body":"This actually makes a lot of sense to me. Feigning innocence in lines such as
\n"Wherein could this flea guilty be,
\nExcept in that drop which it suck'd from thee?"
\nImages of oppression are apparent too.","dateCreated":"1265252230","smartDate":"Feb 3, 2010","userCreated":{"username":"LynnH91","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/LynnH91","imageUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/pic\/1202793136\/LynnH91-lg.jpg"}}],"more":0}]},{"id":"19674221","dateCreated":"1265203197","smartDate":"Feb 3, 2010","userCreated":{"username":"lindsaylee","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/lindsaylee","imageUrl":"https:\/\/ssl.wikicdn.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"},"monitored":false,"locked":false,"links":{"self":"https:\/\/kisapenglporter2009-10.wikispaces.com\/share\/view\/19674221"},"dateDigested":1532169292,"startDate":null,"sharedType":"discussion","title":"Worthless women's virginity","description":"I found it interesting how Donne is using the flea to seduce his lover. He has a flea in front of him, which apparently sucked on both of their bloods, and says that this little insect contains both our blood. This clearly shows the desire of Donne that he wants to mingle with the woman. He wants his lover to know that even this little worthless insect has both of our bloods. In addition, he says that mingling of the blood within the flea cannot be considered \u201ca sin, or shame, or loss of maidenhead." These are all ways in which sex with him would be viewed. Therefore, he is undermining the value of virginity. It is offensive indeed, but the fact that he is using the flea for his relationship is hilarious enough.","replyPages":[{"page":0,"digests":[{"id":"19674785","body":"Huh. I was also thinking about this interpretation of this poem...whether the contamination of blood relates to a woman's loss of virginity. Donne does make reference to the "marriage bed" and the "marriage temple". Hence it could very well mean the loss of virginity. If this were the case though, what would the "three lives" be referring to, and again, why would Donne use a flea to represent such notion?","dateCreated":"1265203946","smartDate":"Feb 3, 2010","userCreated":{"username":"Jessica_Y","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/Jessica_Y","imageUrl":"https:\/\/ssl.wikicdn.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"}},{"id":"19674873","body":"The three lives would be the flea itself, Donne, and his lover.
\nAnd I think he used the flea to represent his relationship because flea is "renown" for its inferiority (no offense) within in the circle of nature. So I guess he wants to say that even a flea can contain three bloods and get "mingled" but "why can't we...?" type of thing :)","dateCreated":"1265204182","smartDate":"Feb 3, 2010","userCreated":{"username":"lindsaylee","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/lindsaylee","imageUrl":"https:\/\/ssl.wikicdn.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"}},{"id":"19675187","body":"I don't know if it's dealing with virginity... It just sounds like a sexual description or desire, just like you said.","dateCreated":"1265204860","smartDate":"Feb 3, 2010","userCreated":{"username":"brians10","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/brians10","imageUrl":"https:\/\/ssl.wikicdn.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"}},{"id":"19703373","body":"I think he's definitely alluding to virginity, and I agree that he is sort of trying to persuade\/pressure his lover. "How little that which thou deniest me is" is the first line of the poem; he is complaining that his lover is denying him, not something important, but something small as the following lines show: "It suck'd me first, and now sucks thee,
\nAnd in this flea our two bloods mingled be." He then says rather hilariously "And this, alas ! is more than we would do"--"this" referring to the mixing of the blood in the flea.","dateCreated":"1265230230","smartDate":"Feb 3, 2010","userCreated":{"username":"courteneykim","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/courteneykim","imageUrl":"https:\/\/ssl.wikicdn.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"}},{"id":"19713769","body":":)","dateCreated":"1265239979","smartDate":"Feb 3, 2010","userCreated":{"username":"lporter","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/lporter","imageUrl":"https:\/\/ssl.wikicdn.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"}},{"id":"19726201","body":"I didn't really think about virginity as I read this poem. However, now that you mention it, I see where you got that idea. The narrator seems to use the flea as a symbol and\/or tool to portray his opinion about his relationship.","dateCreated":"1265253491","smartDate":"Feb 3, 2010","userCreated":{"username":"michelleli","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/michelleli","imageUrl":"https:\/\/ssl.wikicdn.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"}}],"more":0}]},{"id":"19673945","dateCreated":"1265202742","smartDate":"Feb 3, 2010","userCreated":{"username":"laurenleee","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/laurenleee","imageUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/pic\/1202793136\/laurenleee-lg.jpg"},"monitored":false,"locked":false,"links":{"self":"https:\/\/kisapenglporter2009-10.wikispaces.com\/share\/view\/19673945"},"dateDigested":1532169292,"startDate":null,"sharedType":"discussion","title":"Why the \"flea\"?","description":"After I read this poem, I realized that it was a love story or at least about a guy pleading to a girl to love him. And then I thought, "Why a flea though?" I usually thought of the flea as a annoying bug that we kill so easily and that represents something useless and tiny. Maybe the author was representing love as something not so important and not so meaningful as the flea? Or maybe it's portraying how the speaker of the poem is not being so serious after all?","replyPages":[{"page":0,"digests":[{"id":"19699543","body":"Though annoying it may be, it perfectly fits. The metaphor that John Donne uses here is setting the fetus as a flea. Fleas are annoying and we contempt their existence just like we can't still figure out the reson for god's creation of mosquito. Fetuses or babies are annoying, yet we love them. Except that fetus and flea are extraordinarily similar. Both contain mixed blood in them, both suck out blood and nutrients from them, both are quite small.","dateCreated":"1265226174","smartDate":"Feb 3, 2010","userCreated":{"username":"primal91","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/primal91","imageUrl":"https:\/\/ssl.wikicdn.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"}},{"id":"19713585","body":"Whoa! Fetus is new in this discussion. I hope someone comments.","dateCreated":"1265239768","smartDate":"Feb 3, 2010","userCreated":{"username":"lporter","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/lporter","imageUrl":"https:\/\/ssl.wikicdn.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"}},{"id":"19726363","body":"Interesting point. I would've never thought of the fetus. I love your point about the blood mixing together--he constantly explains in the poem that his blood and hers are both inside the body of the flea. What catches my attention is that maybe the author\/narrator was trying to send a message that even something so little and meaningless could possible mean the biggest thing in the world to some specific people.","dateCreated":"1265253727","smartDate":"Feb 3, 2010","userCreated":{"username":"michelleli","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/michelleli","imageUrl":"https:\/\/ssl.wikicdn.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"}}],"more":0}]}],"more":true},"comments":[]},"http":{"code":200,"status":"OK"},"redirectUrl":null,"javascript":null,"notices":{"warning":[],"error":[],"info":[],"success":[]}}