Word
Gems
What is a
man but the sum of his thoughts?
Poetry:
- John Donne's
- No Man Is An
Island
No man is an Island, entire of it self;
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 friends
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) is referring to the custom of ringing the church bells when someone dies.
In his time, people would send someone to the church to find out who had died. Thus his
last line. If one person dies, we all lose. So when ever the bell tolls it tolls for each
one of us.
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