The Flea
John Donne
1572 to 1631
Track 1
Reconstruct the poem by dragging each line into its correct position. Your goal is to reassemble the original poem as accurately as possible. As you move the lines, you'll see whether your arrangement is correct, helping you explore the poem's flow and meaning. You can also print out the jumbled poem to cut up and reassemble in the classroom. Either way, take your time, enjoy the process, and discover how the poet's words come together to create something truly beautiful.
Easy Mode - Auto check enabled
Thou know'st that this cannot be said
A sin, nor shame, nor loss of maidenhead,
This flea is you and I, and this
How little that which thou deniest me is;
'Tis true; then learn how false, fears be:
Though use make you apt to kill me,
And this, alas, is more than we would do.
Let not to that, self-murder added be,
Yet thou triumph'st, and say'st that thou
Our marriage bed, and marriage temple is;
Oh stay, three lives in one flea spare,
And cloistered in these living walls of jet.
And in this flea our two bloods mingled be;
Except in that drop which it sucked from thee?
Yet this enjoys before it woo,
Wherein could this flea guilty be,
And sacrilege, three sins in killing three.
It sucked me first, and now sucks thee,
Though parents grudge, and you, w'are met,
Where we almost, nay more than married are.
Purpled thy nail, in blood of innocence?
Will waste, as this flea's death took life from thee.
And pampered swells with one blood made of two,
Mark but this flea, and mark in this,
Find'st not thy self, nor me the weaker now;
Cruel and sudden, hast thou since
Just so much honor, when thou yield'st to me,