Deictic Analysis Of The Poem “The Flea” By John Donne
John Donne (1574-1631) became one of the most innovative love lyricists and metaphysical (philosophical) poets of the late Elizabethan era. The Elizabethan era was the eon of the Tudor period during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. Historians claim this was the “golden age” represented by the peak of the English Renaissance and saw the abundant flow of poetry, music and literature. John Donne was renowned for his notorious life style as much as the passionate candidness of his writing (Donkor, M, 2017).
John Donne (1574-1631) – “The Flea”: Grierson (1964) considered the 16th Century poet John Donne to be a genius in poetry of wit. The flea was a frequent subject for stimulating verse all over Europe in the 16th Century (ibid, 1964). The poem recreated the late medieval “Carmen de Pulice” (Poem of the flea) credited to Ovid in which the poet envied the flea of the liberties it takes with his mistress and wishes to be transformed into one (ibid, 1964). Gardner (1970) points out that John Donne’s innovativeness masterly created this subject by making the flea bite both him and mistress thus making it a symbol of the lover’s desire to form a union. Instead of an indolent, sensual fancy, he gave it a witty, dramatic argument (ibid, 1970).
Deictic analysis of John Donne’s “The Flea”: Leech (1971) claims that John Donne’s poem “The Flea” not only demonstrates deixis in his poetry but simultaneously utilises cleverly the properties of his deictic tools. The poem begins with deixis, as there are two deictic forms – imperative marke and demonstrative this – both are repeated in line 1 “Marke but this flea, and marke in this” serve as indicating attention to the reader. Leech (1971) explains that the repetition of “this” in the first line gives it a fuller deictic impact where the poet draws his beloved’s attention to himself and the flea. The first and second pronoun “me” and “thou” and “thee” appear in the first three lines of the poem and the opening imperative “Marke” establishes a situation of direct address involving a speaking person and a silent addressee (ibid, 1971).
Fish (1972) draws attention to Donne’s tendency to use this as a gestural demonstrative (refer to appendice A). This occurs ten times in the poem, six times in the first stanza alone. Three of these six occurrences point clearly to the flea: this flea line 1, this flea line 4 this flea enjoyes line 7; this noted twice line 4- 5, and line 9 are (ibid, 1972) claims are analysed as textual pointers, each recapitulating in summary form the statement of the preceding line. Leech (1971) claims in relation to “now” line 3 this explicitly signals demonstrates deixis as it implies the time to which the utterance refers to. The use of the demonstrative of spatial proximity “this” referring to the flea in line 1, implies the conversation that exists between two participants the lovers, the flea, and the time of utterance i. e. the present, is another key example of deixis used in poetry (ibid,1971). Green (1992) explains that coding time is the time at which the utterance is conveyed, content time is the time to which the utterance refers, and receiving time is the time when the utterance is received by the addressee. Green (1992) claims that lyric poems dramatize coding time and content time simultaneously as in the lines 1-3 of appendice A.
Fish (1972) reports “first” in line 3 is deictic. It refers to the poet himself. “It suck’d me first, and now sucks thee”- line 3 (ibid, 1972) claims it is interesting to note that the poet uses temporal deixis i. e. the past tense to refer to his relationship with the flea and the present tense to his beloved’s relation with the same flea. Thus “suck’d” in the line 3 refers to past activity but only in relation to the time of utterance which is set up and controlled by deictic reference of earlier and later elements. Gardner (1970) reports that the poem “The flea” has cultural and spatio-temporal deixis elements in line 6 words such as sin, shame, maidenhead, temple line 13, sacrilege line 18 and purple line 21. According to Levinson (1989), demonstratives are ascribed in terms of relative proximity to the encoder: “this” is proximal, “that” is distal. Most of the reference in the poem is made through demonstratives. Levinson (1989) claims that demonstrative reference is obviously an important aspect of deixis in this poem since it is used extensively and thus it encourages the reader to process the deictic meanings in a specific way i. e. determining the degree of intimacy or remoteness in the relation between the poet and his beloved, for instance, the poet refers to the flea with “this”- line 1 as it is the intimate symbol of their union. The same applies to the components of the place in which they could form their union e. g. line 12-13 “this our marriage bed”. However, Levinson (1989) claims he refers to the sin of the beloved, with “saist that” line 23 to indicate her reluctance to share his desire. Levinson (1989) reports that this deictic use cleverly reiterates the opposition between the proximal and distal perspective of the speaker.
Fish (1972) explains that temporal now, spatial this and you are all used deictically in this poem. The simplest case is now as it occurs in both first and last stanzas, line 3 and line 24 respectively; but with different chronological times. In the first stanza of the poem, a more general “present” is implied where the poet refers to his beloved who is stubborn to answer his calls and this second “content time” is closer to the “coding time” to signal that they are running out of time as life is short (ibid 1972); as Green implied “most lyric poems dramatize coding time and content time as synchronous” (1992, p132). Green (1992) explains that the most important feature of deixis is that it is differentiated by its use. Deictic expressions in poems are directed in such a way as to present the reader with textual pointers which comprise mainly of deictic terms and element. Green (1992) continues to explain that a deictic term includes the demonstrative pronouns such as this and that, the deictic element is one that derives its meaning from the context and situation the poet is referring to. Fish (1972) further clarifies this with examples which include the following: line 4: this flea, our two bloods mingle bee; line 21: this flea, guilty bee; line 22: that drop, which it suckt from thee? line 27: this flea’s death tooke life from thee.
Fish (1972) explains that Donne’s finest achievements is to convey this deictic transition of time skilfully in poetry, between the disparate nows without the aid of a direct narrative. In stanza one, the flea now sucks thee, by stanza three it is dead). Instead, the action is suggested as taking place between the stanzas and the reader is prompted to re-enact the plot from the sequence of stanza interrogative forms: oh stay, three lives in one flea spare line 10 (i. e. the lover responds to the argument of stanza 1 by trying to kill the flea, but is restrained); hast thou since/ purpled thy nail? (infer: she has killed it anyway). Thus Leech’s (1972) claim of John Donne’s cleverly utilising the properties of his deictic tools in the poem “The Flea” has ample impetus to support this. The next analysis of deixis to review is William Blake’s poem “The Garden of Love” but a brief introduction to William Blake is in order.
William Blake (1757-1827)
Forward (2014) explains the key ideas and influences of romanticism are in the works of writers including William Blake, Keats, and Wordsworth. Forward (2014) stresses the term romanticism has a much broader perspective it covers a range of developments in literature, music, philosophy and art spanning the 18th and 19th centuries. William Blake was a talented poet in the Romantic era and had many talents including artistry, painting and engraving. Forward (2014) claims Blake’s poems have a unique trait from other Romantics poets in presenting a mystic vision and illustrations he designed himself. Abrams (1999) states there is a phenomenal contrast in poetry described by Wordsworth in comparison to Blake. Abrams (1999) claims that Wordsworth would expose the horrible side of the 18th to 19th century with disease, poverty, war, prostitution and the prevailing institutional and moral tyranny. Whereas Abrams (1999) mentions Blake presents the nature of individuals in a more symbolic stint designing his own myth with an abundance of powerful feelings.
Deictic analysis of William Blake’s “The Garden of Love”: In The Garden of Love, the deixis appears in lines 1, 2, 4, 6 and 7 however, Culler (1982) reports that the “I” it does not imply a person, but it helps the reader to create a fictional speech situation in interpreting its meaning through the effects of deictic shift theory. Galbraith, M (1995) explains that deictic shift theory forms a necessary part of the readers involvement in reading poems through a process of shifting the reader constructs of a fictional speech by interpreting the deictic cues initiated in the poem via the use of “I”. Culler (1982) states that the importance of deictic cue devices used in poetry cannot be overlooked and the poetic persona introduced from the inception of deixis are not determined by the actual situation of utterance but operate in the way of distancing itself, as Culler (1982) mentions poetry does not depend on an actual construct it has own characteristic form. Culler (1982) mentions In line 3 “the midst” shows deixis in respect to spatial meaning, however in Line 4 “where I used to play in the green” implies a deictic anaphoric, Bonelli, states that “an anaphor indicates a referential tie to some other linguistic entity in the same text” (2001, p10) which simply means in reference to line 4 the garden as mentioned before. Culler (1982) reports there is also a demonstrative deictic of “this” in line 5 leading to a fictional location described as a chapel. Spatial deictic of “where” in line 8 refers to the place where the graves replace the flowers in the garden. Culler (1982) emphasizes that all these elements in deixis are useful in grasping the meaning of the poem, by interpreting the pieces of language in the poem in fragments methodically, helps to analyze the overall meaning of the poem. The final analysis of deixis to examine is Sylvia Plath’s poem “Mirror” a brief introduction to Sylvia Plath is necessary. Burcea, R (2014) reports that “The Confessional School of Poetry” emerged in the late 1950s and early 1960s and is linked to poets such as Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton and Robert Lowell whose writings are characterized by focusing on life, particularly the toils and emotions of the poet. They address themes such as psychological crisis, isolation and personal breakdown and places the poet’s personal feelings and experience at the core of the poem (ibid, 2014).
