The Flea John Donne

Question 1

“Mark but this ______, and ______ in this / How little that which thou ______ me is.”

Answer 1

1. “Mark but this flea, and mark in this / How little that which thou deny’st me is.”
   
   • Opens with mock-serious persuasion. He trivialises virginity and builds his whole argument on something comically insignificant.

Question 2

“It ______ me first, and now ______ thee, / And in this flea, our two bloods ______ be.”

Answer 2

2. “It sucked me first, and now sucks thee, / And in this flea, our two bloods mingled be.”
   
   • Central conceit. The mingling of blood = physical intimacy. Crude and comic metaphor for sex

Question 3

“This flea is you and I, and this / Our ______ bed and marriage ______ is.”

Answer 3

3. “This flea is you and I, and this / Our marriage bed and marriage temple is.”
   
   • Flea becomes a marriage symbol. Hyperbolic, sacrilegious and absurd — perfect for analysing Donne’s metaphysical wit and comic exaggeration.

Question 4

“Where we ______, yea more than ______ are.”
* Ironically argues they are more married because of the flea — undermines religious sanctity of marriage.

Answer 4

“Where we almost, yea more than married are.”
* Ironically argues they are more married because of the flea — undermines religious sanctity of marriage.

Question 5

“Oh ______, three ______ in one flea spare,

Answer 5

“Oh stay, three lives in one flea spare,”
(Where the flea represents their relationship, showing the exaggerated connection.)

Question 6

“______ and sudden, hast thou since / ______ thy ______, in ______ of innocence?”

Answer 6

7. “Cruel and sudden, hast thou since / Purpled thy nail in blood of innocence?”
   
   • After she kills the flea. Feigned outrage and mock mourning — humorous melodrama.

Question 7

“Wherein could this flea ______ be,
Except in that ______ which it ______ from thee?”

Answer 7

8. “Wherein could this flea guilty be, / Except in that drop which it sucked from thee?”
   
   • Punchline of the reversal. The flea is innocent — like their potential sexual act, he argues.

Question 8

9. “Yet thou ______, and sayest that thou / Find’st not ______ nor me the ______ now.”
   
   • She proves his argument wrong — neither of them were harmed by the flea’s death. Humorous but clever shift.

Answer 8

9. “Yet thou triumph’st, and sayest that thou / Find’st not thyself nor me the weaker now.”
   
   • She proves his argument wrong — neither of them were harmed by the flea’s death. Humorous but clever shift.

Question 9

“Just so much ______, when thou ______ to me, / Will ______, as this flea’s ______ took life from thee.

Answer 9

10. “Just so much honour, when thou yield’st to me, / Will waste, as this flea’s death took life from thee.”
    • The ultimate punchline: her honour will be as little diminished by sex as she was harmed by the flea’s death — i.e. not at all.

Question 10

• “______ be” — use when talking about metaphysical conceits or sexual imagery.

Answer 10

• “mingled be” — use when talking about metaphysical conceits or sexual imagery.

Question 11

• “blood of innocence” —

Answer 11

• “blood of innocence” — parody of murder/religious guilt.