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Meditation 17:
For Whom the
Bell Tolls and No Man Is an Island .
.
by John Donne (1572-1631)
Note:
John Donne wrote a
series of meditations called, Devotions
Upon Emergent Occasions, and several
steps in my sickness. They were
written in December 1623 as Donne
recovered from a serious but unknown
sickness. Having come close to death, he
described the illness he had suffered
from and his thoughts throughout his
recover with "near human speed and
concentration." Meditation 17 is
considered one of his most memorable
pieces of prose and verse.
Nunc Lento Sonitu Dicunt,
Morieris (Now this bell, tolling softly
for another, says to me, Thou
must die.)
For Whom the Bell Tolls
Perchance, he for whom
this bell tolls may be so ill, as that he knows
not it tolls for him; and
perchance I may think myself so much better than I
am, as that they who are about me, and see
my state, may have caused it to toll for me, and I
know not that. The church is catholic, universal,
so are all her actions; all that she does belongs
to all. When she baptizes a child, that action
concerns me; for that child is thereby connected
to that body which is my head too, and ingrafted
into that body whereof I am a member. And when she
buries a man, that action concerns me: all
mankind is of one author, and is one volume; when
one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of
the book, but translated into a better language;
and every chapter must be so translated; God
employs several translators; some pieces are
translated by age, some by sickness, some by war,
some by justice; but God's hand is in every
translation, and his hand shall bind up all our
scattered leaves again for that library where
every book shall lie open to one another. As
therefore the bell that rings to a sermon calls
not upon the preacher only, but upon the
congregation to come, so this bell calls us all;
but how much more me, who am brought so near
the door by this sickness.
There was a contention as far as a suit (in which
both piety and dignity, religion and estimation,
were mingled), which of the religious orders
should ring to prayers first in the morning; and
it
was determined, that they should ring first that
rose earliest. If we understand aright the dignity
of
this bell that tolls for our evening prayer, we
would be glad to make it ours by rising early, in
that
application, that it might be ours as well as his,
whose indeed it is.
The bell doth toll for him that thinks it doth;
and though it intermit again, yet from that minute
that this occasion wrought upon him, he is united
to God. Who casts not up his eye to the sun
when it rises? but who takes off his eye from a
comet when that breaks out? Who bends not his
ear to any bell which upon any occasion rings? but
who can remove it from that bell which is
passing a piece of himself out of this world?
No
Man Is an Island
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.
Neither can we call this a begging of misery, or a
borrowing of misery, as though we were not
miserable enough of ourselves, but must fetch in
more from the next house, in taking upon us the
misery of our neighbours. Truly it were an
excusable covetousness if we did, for affliction
is a
treasure, and scarce any man hath enough of it. No
man hath affliction enough that is not matured
and ripened by it, and made fit for God by that
affliction. If a man carry treasure in bullion, or
in
a wedge of gold, and have none coined into current
money, his treasure will not defray him as he
travels. Tribulation is treasure in the nature of
it, but it is not current money in the use of it,
except we get nearer and nearer our home, heaven,
by it. Another man may be sick too, and sick
to death, and this affliction may lie in his
bowels, as gold in a mine, and be of no use to
him; but
this bell, that tells me of his affliction, digs
out and applies that gold to me: if by this
consideration of another's danger I take mine own
into contemplation, and so secure myself, by
making my recourse to my God, who is our only
security.
Brief bio:
John
Donne (1572-1631) was a metaphysical poet
and clergyman from London, England. He was
one of the most influential poets of the
Renaissance. He was just as famous for his
witty cutting poetry as he was for his
enthralling sermons. John was born to a
prominent Roman Catholic family from London
in 1572. Not a healthy child, John Donne
would lead a life plagued with illness.
He received a strong religious upbringing
until his enrollment at the University of
Oxford at the age of 11. After only three
years at Oxford it is believed that he
transferred to the University of Cambridge
for another three years of study, never
obtaining a degree at either college. In
1590 John made a decision that would shape
his life: he converted to Anglicanism.
[bio source]
A commentary on the
meditation:
In this two-paragraph meditation, Donne
meditates upon the sounding of a church bell
signifying a funeral and connects it to his
own present illness. He wonders if the person
is aware that the bell has sounded for him.
(Obviously, if someone is dead, he does not
know and it is too late for him to meditate
upon it.) Donne then applies the idea to
himself, using the bell to become aware of his
own spiritual sickness, and to everyone else
by noting that the church is a universal
establishment. Every human action affects the
rest of humanity in some way. The church’s
universality comes from God, who is in charge
of all “translations” from earthly to
spiritual existence which occur at death.
Although God uses various means to achieve
this changeover, God is nonetheless the author
and cause of each death. Donne also compares
this death-knell to the church bell calling
the congregation to worship, as both bells
apply to all and direct their attention to
matters more spiritual than material.
Donne uses an interesting image when he
considers how God is the “author” of every
person and every death: “all mankind is of one
author, and is one volume; when one man dies,
one chapter is not torn out of the book, but
translated into a better language; and every
chapter must be so translated.” Whether a man
dies of old age, in battle, from disease or
accident, or even through the actions of the
state dispensing its idea of justice, God has
in a sense decided the terms of each death. As
universal author, God will bind together these
various “translated” pages, each man a
chapter, into a volume which is open to all.
In the new universal “library” of mankind,
“every book shall lie open to one another.”
Yet all of this imagery takes up only one
sentence, and Donne returns in the next
sentence to the meaning of the bell.
Donne also recounts how the various religious
orders disagreed about which group should be
given the privilege of ringing the first bell
calling everyone to prayer; the decision was
made to allow the order which rose first in
the morning to ring that bell. Again Donne
connects this to the death-knell and urges
himself and his readers to take its imminence
into account when deciding what to do each
day. After all, the bell really tolls for the
person who has the ears to hear it.
At the opening of the second paragraph, Donne
returns to his idea that “no man is an
island,” indicating that everyone is connected
to every other human being in some way. Just
as dirt and sand clods are part of the
European continent, so too is each man part of
the entire human race; the removal of a clod
diminishes the continent, and the removal of a
human life diminishes mankind. Since every
death diminishes the rest of mankind in some
way, when the bell tolls for a funeral it
tolls in a sense for everyone.
Donne concludes by stating that his meditation
is not an effort to “borrow misery,” since
everyone has enough misery for his life. He
does, however, argue that affliction is a
treasure in that it causes men to grow and
mature; therefore we inherit wisdom from
perceiving another’s suffering. Although a man
may not be able to make use of that wisdom
himself as he suffers and dies, those who
observe it can better prepare themselves for
their own fate.
(commentary
source]
top photo: Eternal
Believer, photo taken in the Church of the
Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem by Nadav Dov
Boretzki
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