The Persuasive Tone of The Flea Essay - 766 Words

The Persuasive Tone of The Flea John Donne, a member of metaphysical school in the Seventeenth century, exhibited his brilliant talent in poetry. In The Flea, he showed the passion to his mistress via persuasive attitude. The tone might straightforwardly create playfulness or sinfulness; yet, the poem contains none of either. What impress readers most is situation and device. The situation between the speaker and the audience is persuasion, love or marriage. As to device, the notable parts are diction and rhetoric skills. Furthermore, unique characteristics of this poem are also an important element of his persuasive tone. First of all, the situation created by Donne is remarkable. Although there is only one†¦show more content†¦More than the effect, it also has an implication. The flea having sucked his blood and then hers, he takes a far bolder step and suggest that because their blood in now mixed in the fleas body, they are in some meaningful physical way joined already.i[i] Finally, The Flea contains two major unique characteristics. One of Donnes most successful effects is sudden contrast.ii[ii] The insect seems to be no connection with romance, but by sucking blood of two characters of the poem, the flea builds a bridge between the two persons that surprises many readers.  ¡Ã‚ ¥The Flea seems particularly unerotic in character, extraordinarily preoccupied with ethical and social, particularly marital, matters ¡K. but also transforms the sexual seduction lyric into a more serious persuasion to full affectionate and physical loving.iii[iii] The other is Donnes skill, dramatic monologue. In both line one of the first and the second stanzas, the poet began with strong voice. Later in the following lines of the two stanzas, Donne himself explained his reasons logically. The only difference is his attitude. The tone of stanza two is stronger than stanza one, and stanza three is even stronger than stanza two; therefore, in killing it the poets mistress would commit, not only murder on him, a crime she is injured to, but suicide and sacrilege.iv[iv] To the end, The Flea describes aShow MoreRelatedEssay about Metaphysical Poetry - the flea + sune rising1703 Words   |  7 Pagesavert him from reaching his desires. This is incalculably recognized in his two poems, â€Å"The Sunne Rising† and â€Å"The Flea† where Donne’s arguments challenge some beliefs of the 17th century England. Through â€Å"The Sunne Rising† we gain a sense of meaning that Donne is irritated and perplexed with new discoveries and that he believes his love is everything in the whole world. 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