Religious Language in The Flea
John Donne's Daring Use of Religious Elements in an Amorous Poem
Oct 1, 2007
In “The Flea”, John Donne brings together two of his favourite topics: religion and sex. Though an explicitly secular poem, “The Flea” is full of religious language, which brings it, some would say, perilously close to blasphemy, or at least irreverence. No wonder Donne was rumoured to have tried to suppress the manuscripts of his early poems when he took up a career as a clergyman in the Church of England and became the Dean of St. Paul’s.
Religious language and argument
The first obviously religious element in the poem is the reference to its intention: persuading the listener that giving up her virginity would not be “sin, nor shame”: Donne invokes religion order to argue that it doesn’t apply in this case. However he goes on to make a comparison between what has happened inside the flea and marriage, and he directly refers to the insect as “Our marriage bed, and marriage temple”. Suggesting that killing the flea would be “self murder” is also an appeal to the Christian doctrine which forbids suicide. Donne’s speaker is evidently quite happy to deploy religious riffs when they suit his purpose.
The Trinity
There is another, more subversive, religious strain in the poem’s language, however. Following the logic that “This flea is you and I”, the speaker declares that killing it would be “Sacrilege, three sins in killing three” and begs the listener “Oh stay, three lives in one flea spare.” This emphasis on the number three in the context, and the reference to “three lives in one” is undoubtedly intended as an echo of the Christian Trinity. Likewise the reference to the nail “purpled” with “blood of innocence” is heavily redolent of language used to describe Christ. It’s about the last place one would expect to find such echoes, but they are undoubtedly present.
Mystical poetry and Metaphysical conceits
This strain of religious language doesn’t further the speaker’s argument in the same way as the references to marriage and “one blood made of two”. Indeed it doesn’t seem to serve any purpose apart for investing the argument with weightier overtones, and a hint of irreverence. Of course romantic and mystical poetry has often been couched in amorous and even sexual terms, and perhaps Donne is playing with the idea of doing the same in reverse. A further explanation could possibly be found in Donne’s liking for the “conceit”, a poetic device which brings together two apparently completely dissimilar concepts, what Samuel called the “heterogenous ideas....yoked together by violence”. It is the very unsuitability of this language which would attract Donne according to this reading, offering him a chance to demonstrate his poetic flair and ideological daring.
