Topic: John Donne

[Nichi]

No man is an island,
Entire of itself,
Every man is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manor of thy friend's
Or of thine own were:
Any man's death diminishes me,
Because I am involved in mankind,
And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;
It tolls for thee.

John Donne
(1572-1631, U.K.)

[Michael]

And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;

What a clumsy line, and yet it's probably the moist famous line in history.
Just shows, you can't pin poetry down - it always remains in the hands of the poet.

Mind you, this line has been debated:

There's some debate about what precisely what was meant. Some think that Donne was simply pointing out people's mortality and that when a funeral bell was heard it was a reminder that we are nearer death each day, that is, the bell is tolling for us. Others view it more mystically and argue that Donne is saying we are all one and that, when one dies, we all die a little. This isn't as bleak as it might sound, as the counterpoint would be that there is some part of the living in the dead and that we continue a form of life after death.

In the Catholic tradition, all humanity is connected in the Body of Christ, and all are equal before God; in the Afterlife, there is no more male or female, Jew or Greek. The Bible states that “we are many parts, but we are all part of one body in Christ” and that “there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it. Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.”

The implication for the individual living on Earth is that he is part of a greater whole, such that the death-bell has deep and significant meaning for everyone who hears it. We are all in this life together and part of the same divine plan, so the bell does toll for the sake of all who have ears to hear it.

First They Came for the Jews, attributed to Pastor Martin Niemöller:

    First they came for the Jews
    and I did not speak out
    because I was not a Jew.

    Then they came for the Communists
    and I did not speak out
    because I was not a Communist.

    Then they came for the trade unionists
    and I did not speak out
    because I was not a trade unionist.

    Then they came for me
    and there was no one left to speak out for me.

Hemingway adapted the novel as the screenplay to a successful 1943 film of the same title [For Whom the Bell Tolls], starring Gary Cooper and Ingrid Bergman.

[Nichi]

I always read the line as a wake-up call, about the inevitability of death. Also, there is a sense that "sending to know for whom the bell tolls" is a separation of sorts. It's happening to him, and to her, but never to me.

I'm glad to hear you say the line is clumsy -- it is, and curious in light of his structure in other poems. Then again, he never quite reached 'organic', to my eye.

He is considered one of the early "metaphysical poets", but that description is also misleading, for when I read his stuff, I'm not left with that sense of oneness I should be experiencing. He's as dry as a bone - long on intellect, short on passion. This is probably the one poem by him I can tolerate.

A great image, that tolling bell. I thought it would be a good addition here, being a classic and all.