The Desire For Love In John Drayton's Sonnet 61 And The Flea

Michael Drayton’s Sonnet 61, and John Donne’s The Flea, are two good examples of a decisive, but selfish use of rhetoric. Drayton uses a more aggressive technique, where Donne’s is more passive in nature. Both reflect certain aspects of the personality of the poets themselves, and those personalities may be used to discover the inspiration and circumstances these poems were written in. They fein arguments to persuade their lovers to do what they may not want to do. The desire for love drives both these poets but the denial of responsibility is what links the two. Both men desire romance without the effort, and are not willing to sacrifice their own interests to obtain what they desire. John Donne was born into an outlawed religion, and later …show more content…
Love is the obvious inspiration for these poems, though it is surely two different forms of love. Donne pursues his infatuation with a woman, and Drayton seeks to indict a woman who has scorned him. Drayton seems to hope to rekindle some desire that him and his former-lover once had, “Since there’s no help, come, let us kiss and part.” (Sonn 61, li 1) however successful this turns out to be, Drayton was certainly trying to accomplish more than an first reading of his poem would imply. Drayton is aggressive in his delivery to convey a sense of definity, and helplessness to his …show more content…
Drayton shifts his blame onto his former-lover “From death to life thou might’st him yet recover.” (Sonn 61, li 14), Drayton seeks to make himself the victim, and convince his lover that he did nothing to deserve whatever she did to him. Donne also seeks to shift the blame in the situation, but he does this through metaphor. His seduction can never be called out, because it is buried in the metaphor of the flea. “And pampered swells with one blood made of two,/and this, alas, is more than we would do.” (Flea, li 8/9) This shift of blame in both cases is a strong example of just how far the poets desire to remove themselves from the situation. They cannot deal with the responsibility of the relationship they desire, yet the desire it all the same. Donne frequently contradicts his arguments, but always keeps all evidence of his seduction with the flea. This shows just how little he knows about subject, He did not know enough to figure out where to start, so he needed to alter his argument along the way. Drayton seems to have a handle on how he must place blame. suggesting that he knows the subject