John Donne's "The Flea": Based on True Events?

While we were reading and discussing Donne's poem in class, it struck me that there were a lot of similarities between the events in the poem and Donne's biography a few pages earlier. Obviously, there are no references to a flea in any part of Donne's biography, but there are myriad other parts that match in the poem. For example, Donne married his wife Ann secretly, and when it was revealed, both Ann's father and Donne's employer were furious. In the poem, the narrator speaks of forbidden love and secretly marrying, despite the fact that relatives would be angry: "though parents grudge" (14). I simply couldn't help but notice a lot of similarities and wondering if Donne's poem had any basis in fact.

While reading a post below, titled "The Salmon/Dogfish" by bmshelton, I couldn't help but notice that the way the Duchess' monologue at the end of scene 5 of act 3 is described again brings to mind the discussion of relating the Duchess to Queen Elizabeth that we had in class. I had not thought of the nets described in the poem (132) being symbolic of marraige, but now that I hear the analogy, it makes a lot of sense. Perhaps the sisterhood that seems to be formed between the two fish is symbolic of being between the Duchess and Queen Elizabeth?

-by Kelly Johnson