Stanza 1
Marke-observe carefully. How little...me is-the physical union which she has denied to him has been accomplished in the body of the flea. All her shrinking from his advances has been of little avail to her.
confesse it-the beloved will have to acknowledge. This- the mingling of their respective bloods in the body of the flea. It was supposed that in the sex-act there was a mingling of bloods of the persons concerned.
Maidenhead-virginity. This enjoyes before it wooe- the flea has enjoyed her (though the sucking of her blood) without any courtship.
Pamper'd-haveing fed upon; having enjoyed. swells-grows fat. whit one blood made of two- their respective bloods which mingle and become one in the body of the flea.
This, alas...... would doe- the poet regrets that, like the flea, he cannot have physical union with his beloved.
Stanza 2
Oh stay-said the beloved gets ready to kill the flea. Three lives- the life of the flea, of the lover and beloved herself.
Mariage bed-because their bloods mingle in the body of the flea, as they do during a sexual- intercourse. Mariage temple- because in its body they become one, as after a marriage performed in the church.
Though- parents grudge-despite the objection of her parents who object to any physical union without mariage. and you- her own objections. Cloysterd-in the privacy of. living walls of jet-the reference is to the four walls which together constitute the body of the flea.
Use-social custom or the cruelty to which the beloved has grown used. This-the murder of the lover. Sacrilege- refers to the sin of suicide or self-destruction specifically forbidden by Christ. Three sins-of murder, of suicide and of killing the flea.
Stanza 3
Sudaine-rash; ill-tempered. Purpled thy naile-The beloved has actully killed the flea and thus purpled her nails with innocent blood.
Then learne how false-since she has not lost any honour from the flea's sucking her blood, she should not fear that she would lose any honour from yielding to her lover. will wast- will be lost.