Compare and contrast The Flea and To His Coy Mistress
Andrew Marvell’s “To His Coy Mistress” and John Donne’s “The Flea” are two poetic poems both dealing with Carpe Diem. ... For instance, Marvell uses time to seduce and manipulate his mistress. ... During the Renaissance period many writers used the theme of a flea to write poems on sex. Donne uses a flea, blood and the murder of the flea to describe to his mistress why she should engage in sexual activity with him in the present. The flea is very symbolic, meaning different things, in different views. “Me it sucked first, and now sucks thee, and in this flea our two bloods mingled be”, the flea bit both the speaker and his lady so there blood is already infused. ... Having this happen to them, the man and the women don’t need a holy man to join them in marriage because the flea has already done so.