The Marriage Bed/Temple

The speaker refers to the marriage temple and the marriage bed in the second stanza of the poem, likely suggesting that the poem itself serves as the place of consummation for him and the beloved. By inviting the imagery of the church and the place of marital consummation, the speaker bolsters his argument that the two are "more than married" as their blood mingles inside the flea (11).

Living Walls of Jet

In the second stanza, the speaker says, "Though parents grudge, and you, we're met, / And cloister'd in these living walls of jet" (14-15). This descriptor is another way of saying that the two of them are joined inside the "walls" of the flea, referring to its living abdomen where the blood is being stored. However, "living walls of jet" can also refer to the poem itself: the stanzas in a poem were often equated...