no man is an island analysis essay

For Whom the Bell Tolls/No Man is an Island

By John Donne

In ‘For Whom the Bell tolls,’ John Donne explores themes of life, death, and the human condition. He suggests that no man is an “island.”

He was the best of the metaphysical poets and is remembered for his skill with conceits.

Poem Analyzed by Emma Baldwin

B.A. English (Minor: Creative Writing), B.F.A. Fine Art, B.A. Art Histories

Donne addresses humanity, asking everyone to reconsider how they perceive themselves and their relationship to everyone else. Donne creates a mood and tone that are contemplative and thoughtful, while direct enough to clearly convey the major themes of ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls.’

Explore For Whom the Bell Tolls/No Man is an Island

• 2 Structure
• 3 Poetic Techniques
• 4 Detailed Analysis

‘For Whom the Bell Tolls/No Man is an Island’ by John Donne is a short, simple poem that addresses the nature of death and the connection between all human beings.

Donne begins by addressing the impossibility of solitude. “No man,” he says, is an island. All people are connected to one another. So much so that any loss is important. He extends the metaphor to compare the loss of a human being to the loss of a segment of a continent. This emphasis on interconnectivity is continued in the next lines. The poem turns, the poet addresses himself, and he asks that when the bell tolls one should not worry who it is tolling for. It is tolling for everyone. A single person’s death is like the death of everyone.

‘ For Whom the Bell Tolls/No Man is an Island ’ by John Donne is a fourteen-line sonnet that does not follow either of the standard sonnet forms, Petrarchan or Shakespearean. The rhyme scheme is scattered with a few distinct end rhymes like “sea,” “me,” and “thee”. Donne also chose not to use a specific metrical pattern. The lines vary in length, a feature that is unusual for a sonnet.  

There is a distinctive turn, or volta , towards the end of the poem. Donne changes narrative perspectives and addresses his own position in the world. He also addresses the listener, asking that they change their understanding of what it means to be human.

Poetic Techniques

Donne makes use of several poetic techniques in ‘ For Whom the Bell Tolls/No Man is an Island ’. These include but are not limited to enjambment , metaphor, and anaphora . The latter, anaphora, is the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of multiple lines, usually in succession. This technique is often used to create emphasis. A list of phrases, items, or actions may be created through its implementation. For example, “As well as if a” which begins lines seven and eight. As well as “For” which starts two lines in the sestet .  

Another important technique commonly used in poetry is enjambment. It occurs when a line is cut off before its natural stopping point. Enjambment forces a reader down to the next line, and the next, quickly. One has to move forward in order to comfortably resolve a phrase or sentence. For example, the transitions between lines eight and nine as well as twelve and thirteen.

A metaphor is a comparison between two, unlike things that do not use “like” or “as” is also present in the text. When using this technique a poet is saying that one thing is another thing, they aren’t just similar. In this poem, Donne uses a metaphor to depict human relationships to landmasses and the bell tolling to death.

Detailed Analysis

No man is an island, Entire of itself. Each is a piece of the continent, A part of the main.

In the first lines of ‘ For Whom the Bell Tolls/No Man is an Island ’ the speaker begins with a clear and memorable opening line. He states that “No man is an island”. No single person is entirely separate from the rest of the world. Every human being is part of a whole. Donne transitions into one of the metaphorical conceits for which he is well-known. He compares human beings, their connection to one another and the rest of the world, to landmasses that are part of a continent. They are all “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 thine own

In the next quatrain , the conceit is continued. In these lines he adds onto it, saying that if the continent lost anything, from a “promontory” to a “clod,” or a “manor” that it would be less. This is relating back to human beings and how every loss, or death, is an injury to the whole. Humans are interconnected with one another and can therefore not afford to be flippant with one another’s lives.  

Lines 9-14  

Or of thine friend’s were. Each man’s death diminishes me, For I am involved in mankind. Therefore, send not to know For whom the bell tolls, It tolls for thee.

In the sestet, of the final six lines of the sonnet, Donne adds onto the statements he made previously by noting that not only “your” loss is meaningful but also “thine friends”. Everyone is injured when one person is.  

The poem then transitions into first-person where the poet addresses himself and his connection to “mankind”. He speaks of “Each man’s death” as diminishing him. He is “involved” in the workings of humankind.  

The last three lines directly address death and what it means when a new death comes to pass. He uses the image of a church bell tolling to symbolize death. When it rings, he says to the listener, do not ask “For whom” it tolls because it “tolls for” you. Whenever anyone dies, it is like everyone has died.  

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Hafez the renowned Iranian poet has these beautiful poems to say:  Human beings are members of a whole In creation of one essence and soul

If one member is afflicted with pain  Other members uneasy will remain

If you’ve no sympathy for human pain The name of human you cannot retain 

That is pretty!

Thank you, Emma! This helped me get a little more clarity on this poem for my test. I had no idea how to write an analysis so with this example I can now write my own.

Emma will be delighted she was able to help.

Dear Emma – This is not a poem! ‘Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions’ (1624) is a long prose work consisting of 23 tripartite sections (meditation-expostulation-prayer) chronologically recounting the course of a serious illness that nearly killed Donne. ‘No man is an Iland’ is the first phrase of Meditation 17. For Donne’s actual sonnets, see for example ‘Batter My Heart, Three-Person’d God’ or ‘Death Be Not Proud’.

Thank you. This is really interesting – although could open a much wider debate about what a poem is! For instance, I have seen a shopping list that was a poem.

What was the shopping list?

I can’t remember but I’m fairly confident it included avacodos!

I can’t remember but I’m fairly confident it included avocados!

This is not a sonnet. It is not a poem. This is an extract from “XVII Meditation,” with the words arbitrarily arranged as if it were a poem. Donne did write sonnets, but this is part of a magnificent prose composition, Nunc lento sonitu dicunt, morieris, from Devotions upon Emergent Occasions, 1624.

Wow, that is impressive knowledge there. Thank you for sharing with us.

Oh yeah, tell my teacher that. If its not a poem y are we learning it?!

There are many facets to the English language, my friend.

It’s really not a poem, though—there’s no debate to be had. It’s disingenuous to present it as such, with line breaks etc.

At the risk of sounding contentious – define a poem! Because many great poets have tried and their definitions are nebulous at best! However, I am playing devil’s advocate.

Emma and Lee are just trying to help those of us without Bachelors in English to understand something better. Your comments telling them it’s not a “poem” really doesn’t help or impress anyone.

I mean, I never would have said that. But I’m deeply amused that you did. Thanks!

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Baldwin, Emma. "For Whom the Bell Tolls/No Man is an Island by John Donne". Poem Analysis , https://poemanalysis.com/john-donne/for-whom-the-bell-tolls/ . Accessed 29 June 2024.

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No Man Is an Island Summary & Analysis by John Donne

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis
• Poetic Devices
• Vocabulary & References
• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme
• Line-by-Line Explanations

John Donne's "No Man is an Island" is about the connection between all of humankind. Donne essentially argues that people need each other and are better together than they are in isolation, because every individual is one piece of the greater whole that is humanity itself. The paragraph isn't actually a poem but a famous excerpt from Donne's Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions . Written in 1623 when Donne was in the grips of a serious illness, the Devotions examine what it means to be a human being and the relationship between humanity and God. Each of this book's 23 sections features a "Meditation," "Expostulation," and "Prayer." This particular segment comes from the 17th "Meditation."

• Read the full text of “No Man Is an Island”

The Full Text of “No Man Is an Island”

1 No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a

2 piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod

3 be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well

4 as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy

5 friend's or of thine own were; any man's death

6 diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and

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

8 it tolls for thee.

“No Man Is an Island” Summary

“no man is an island” themes.

Human Connection

• See where this theme is active in the poem.

Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “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.

“No Man Is an Island” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

Alliteration.

• See where this poetic device appears in the poem.

“No Man Is an Island” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• Entire of itself
• Send to know
• See where this vocabulary word appears in the poem.

Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “No Man Is an Island”

Rhyme scheme, “no man is an island” speaker, “no man is an island” setting, literary and historical context of “no man is an island”, more “no man is an island” resources, external resources.

The Poem Out Loud — Listen to a live reading by musician P.J. Harvey.

Donne's Life and Work — Learn more about Donne's life story via the Poetry Foundation.

Donne and Death — A podcast discussing the poet's attitude towards mortality. 

The 17th Meditation — Check out the longer Meditation in which this famous excerpt appears.

Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions — Explore the full text of the book in which this famous paragraph appears, written by Donne during a period of sickness (and recovery). 

LitCharts on Other Poems by John Donne

A Hymn to God the Father

Air and Angels

A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning

A Valediction: Of Weeping

Elegy V: His Picture

Holy Sonnet 10: Death, be not proud

Holy Sonnet 14: Batter my heart, three-person'd God

Holy Sonnet 1: Thou hast made me, and shall thy work decay?

Holy Sonnet 6: This is my play's last scene

Holy Sonnet 7: At the round earth's imagined corners

Hymn to God My God, in My Sickness

Song: Go and catch a falling star

The Apparition

The Canonization

The Good-Morrow

The Sun Rising

The Triple Fool

To His Mistress Going to Bed

Ask LitCharts AI: The answer to your questions

A Summary and Analysis of John Donne’s ‘No Man Is an Island’ Meditation

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

‘For Whom the Bell Tolls’ is a phrase from one of John Donne’s most famous pieces of writing. Indeed, it’s the same piece of writing that also includes what is probably his other most famous phrase, ‘No Man Is an Island’.

Although they’re often thought to come from a poem Donne wrote, and Donne is best-known as a poet, both of these lines – probably his two most widely-known – actually appear in one of Donne’s prose writings.

You can read the full ‘No Man Is an Island’ meditation here , but for the purposes of this analysis we’re going to focus on the famous paragraph:

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: a brief introduction

John Donne (1572-1631) was a hugely important figure in Elizabethan and Jacobean literature. As a young man in the 1590s, he had pioneered what would become known as metaphysical poetry , writing impassioned and sensual poetry to his beloved that drew on new debates and discoveries in astronomy for its imagery and poetic conceits .

Common features of metaphysical poetry include elaborate similes and metaphors, extended poetic conceits and paradoxes, colloquial speech, and an interest in exploring the interplay between the physical and spiritual world (and between the big and the small).

Donne is often said to be the first metaphysical poet, and Donne’s genius for original, intellectually complex poetry certainly helped to set the trend for the poetry that followed him.

He began writing at the end of the sixteenth century, but the high moment of metaphysical poetry would be in the century that followed. Other key characteristics of metaphysical poetry include: complicated mental and emotional experience; unusual and sometimes deliberately contrived metaphors and similes; and the idea that the physical and spiritual universes are connected.

That is how Donne, as a young man, embarked on a literary career (although he appears to have written his early work to amuse his friends and associates, rather than for publication). Then, as he grew older, he became a devoted Anglican and rose to become Dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral. He would write a series of Holy Sonnets which transferred his earlier youthful passions from a woman on to God Himself.

But Donne was also a powerful writer and deliverer of sermons, and a talented prose writer. The famous lines he wrote that contain the ‘for whom the bell tolls’ statement were written in his last years.

In 1623, he fell ill with a fever and, while he recovered, he wrote the Devotions upon Emergent Occasions , a series of prose writings split into three parts: ‘Meditations’, ‘Expostulations to God’, and ‘Prayers’. The oft-quoted ‘no man is an island’ line, as well as the ‘for whom the bell tolls’ one, come from the seventeenth Meditation in Donne’s Devotions .

Donne was gravely ill and his own death, and the mortality of all human life, must have been continually on his mind; the Devotions come back to sin and salvation as recurrent themes, too.

The meaning of Donne’s ‘No man is an island’ meditation is fairly straightforward. We should feel a sense of belonging to the whole of the human race, and should feel a sense of loss at every death, because it has taken something away from mankind.

The funeral bell that tolls for another person’s death also tolls for us, because it marks the death of a part of us, but also because it is a memento mori , a reminder that we ourselves will die one day.

The power of the passage is in the language Donne chooses to use. In many ways, it’s a natural extension of his earlier metaphysical poetry, which often unravelled a single idea, thinking through the metaphor, developing it, taking it to its logical conclusion, and, occasionally, deliberately taking it to absurd extremes.

Here, the development of the central metaphor is more staid, but is still noteworthy for its being extended over the course of several sentences.

Nobody lives or exists alone, and we are all part of something greater. Each individual person is like a part of the mainland or a piece of a bigger continent, rather than an island nation that is self-sufficient and cut off from the rest.

Final Thoughts

By way of concluding this analysis, it’s worth noting that the ‘No man is an island’ paragraph is not, in fact, the conclusion of Donne’s Meditation XVII. Instead, there is a further paragraph, which runs:

If a man carry treasure in bullion or in a wedge of gold, and have none coined into current moneys, 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.

The passage continues, concluding the meditation with the resounding words:

Another 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.

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John Donne: “No Man Is an Island” Essay

• To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
• As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
• As a template for you assignment

Introduction

Humans are used to live and communicate with others creating social organizations and social groups. A human being is asocial creature needed interaction and communication with people like “me”. The statement and position of John Donne is correct because it reflects principles of social organization and control. The human being must engage others, develop relationships, accrue goodwill, and establish a system of support network resources. In time of need, the individual must actively engage these social resources, seeking help and managing supportive exchanges. This process may require considerable social skill, skill that develops and gains sophistication slowly and with experience. The transactional nature of support processes represents another thread of continuity in social support over the life course (Neimeyer & Neimeyer 2002). The development, maintenance, and engagement of support resources is an active process from the first to the last year of life. This is not to say that the person can always manage support resources effectively and with ease, but rather that the behavior of the focal person matters. Indeed, the skills required in dealing with support resources very likely show developmental continuity.

“No man is an island” because throughout the individual’s life, a person engages in an active appraisal of the social world, of relationships with support network members and of the supportive behavior in which they have engaged. The young personalities may be less articulate about this than is the college-educated adult, but the process whereby special attention or its absence, treats or broken promises, come to be appraised in terms of one person’s feelings for another begins very early (Myers, 2002). The assessment of social standing becomes a veritable obsession during adolescence. Adolescents may be more tolerant, encompass a broader range of data, develop more elaborate appraisals, and be less volatile informing them, but the basic process shows considerable continuity. In short, although the details change, throughout his or her life the individual is engaged in appraising support resources and supportive behavior and in forming beliefs regarding the degree to which he or she is loved and cared for, respected and esteemed, and involved in a network of mutual obligation. The major functions are to provide supplementary assistance to the focal person in dealing with demands and achieving goals, to sustain feelings of being cared for and valued, and to sustain a sense of social identity and social location. “Conversely, lack or loss of interpersonal relationships leads to negative emotional experiences such as anxiety, depression, distress, loneliness, and feelings of isolation? (Carvallo and Gabriel 2006, p. 698).

Many research studies suggest that gender is irrelevant both to levels of support and to its effects on well-being. But quite a few studies find women advantaged when we focus on particular modes and/or sources of support, specifically, emotional support and friends (Kelly, 2002). Likewise, differences in support effects, when they are observed, tend to be specific with respect to cause, mode, and outcome although no clear pattern is yet evident. Future research will benefit from valid, reliable, and focused support measures. No doubt questions regarding gender differences will be specific rather than general and will be explored within the context of social-role and sex-role factors thought to underlie gender effects. Among middle-class people, social support showed a direct effect on distress, regardless of stress level (that is, the number of life events experienced). That is, the data for the middle class were consistent with a direct model whereas those for the lower class indicated a buffer model. Carvallo & Gabriel (2006) stated: “We expected that after receiving feedback of future interpersonal success, high-dismissing individuals would experience higher levels of positive affect relative to lowdismissing individual” (p. 704).

Isolation and loneliness are not natural for a man. However, support from family and friends was significantly more important for men than for women in the prediction of both life satisfaction and depression. Support from colleagues was significantly more important for women than for men in the prediction of anxiety. The relative importance of work and non-work support for men and women suggested by these findings is contrary to both common opinion and some previous findings (Dumm, 2008). Their focus was high-school change, specifically, grades and attendance, peer self-concept, and scholastic self-concept. Academic adjustment was associated with informal support for both boys and girls, whereas peer self-concept was associated with both informal and formal support among boys, but neither among girls. Thus the higher informal support reported by girls (noted earlier) was less beneficial than that available to boys (Dumm, 2008).

Social loneliness results from the lack of a network of social relationships and is associated with boredom and depression. In contrast, emotional loneliness results from the absence of a close and intimate attachment to another person and is associated with a sense of isolation and anxiety. The evidence for these propositions is qualified. There is an example of how support might be linked to psychological distress in a more particular manner than is evident in current research. First, regarding the view that people are especially independent and reluctant to seek help from others, a qualitative finding is relevant. In a small sample of families, Dumm (2008) found that half the women, but all the men, showed a negative network orientation: an unwillingness to utilize support resources because of mistrust, independence, or beliefs that others cannot provide help. This posture toward others, it is argued, impedes the growth, maintenance, and use of support resources with adverse effects on well-being. The authors note that regularized patterns of social conflict as well as support are evident in the social networks and that these differed by gender. The gender differences are modest but consistent. Especially for women, the “classically integrative institutions” of family, work, and support networks also contain significant elements of friction. Social support variables included the number of extended kin in the community and extended kin and nonkin support resources (those who would help with various problems) (Higdon, 2004). For instance, none of these support variables showed evidence of buffering the effects of either life events or chronic stressors, and only kin support resources showed an association with lower depression. Though, younger women reported particularly high levels of depression and of kin support resources. Further analyses showed no direct or buffer effects for either younger or older women and only one buffer effect for men. Those with more extended kin resources were affected relatively less by life events. Investigation of gender differences in social network precursors of loneliness, Stokes and Levin (1986) found that social network factors, particularly density, were better predictors of loneliness in men than women. In a second study, they explored the density finding further, focusing on same-sex friends. Findings indicated that more interconnected, cohesive social networks are associated with lower loneliness for men but not for women. These studies suggest a greater importance for certain social network factors for men than women, at least with respect to loneliness (Howard, 2005).

Critics suggest that the forming of a bond of attachment is programmed into the baby for sound biological reasons. People who stay close to another person are likely to benefit from an umbrella of protection against an environment which can be very harsh both in climate and predators. Therefore, people who have a trait to attach themselves to society stand a good chance of reaching maturity, and passing on their genes into the next generation, genes for the attachment trait. In that case, failure to form a bond in infancy, or the disruption of a bond, would be counter to the baby’s natural tendency, and as a result might have dire social, psychological and physical consequences (Cacioppo and Patrick, 2008).

“no man is an island” as there is an approach in which it makes sense that the person should attach himself to a parent is that the reward of love to the caring adult is likely to encourage her to return love and take the baby under her wing. I use the feathered metaphor here for good reason. The sociobiologists have demonstrated a primitive form of attachment in geese. He observed that shortly after hatching, the chicks would follow the parent wherever she went. This has implications for the survival of the chicks, so he wondered whether this tendency was innate. The chicks could not have a perfect image of their parent programmed into their brains from birth, so Lorenz wondered instead if they are programmed to attach themselves to the first conspicuous moving thing they see. This would almost certainly be the parent. Such experiences in themselves could be disturbing to the people, over and above the separation. Consequently, perhaps the particular circumstance of separation is the factor which gives rise to permanent emotional damage, and not so much the mere fact of separation. Clearly separation is traumatic for a person, but there is scope for emotional repair when normal family life resumes in many cases (Carvallo and Gabriel 2006).

People dot suffer from anxiety for obvious reasons. Instead, they suffer from ostracism. Critics claimed that girls believe that they have already been castrated in order to account for the difference between their own physiology and their brothers’ (Hawkley et al 2009). This causes a similar kind of anxiety and makes the girl hate the parent, but eventually identifies with her in order to get attention and favor from her father. The moral ideals of the parents, as perceived by the person, are assimilated into the personality as the appropriate moral code. The superego may place strain on the personality, since its values are usually unrealistic. However, it has the benefit of making the person considerate of others, and thus enables her to enter society as a conscientious and caring individual. Because of this, the personalities can move beyond the bounds of the family, and enter school and other institutions as a socialized person. In their study, Hawkley et al (2008) explain that: “Social control differences may explain lower activity levels in lonely individuals. Social control theory holds that internalized obligations to, and the overt influence of, network members tend to discourage poor health behaviors and encourage good health behaviors” (p. 354).

Attachment bonds, developed in early age, take various forms, and researchers have found it useful to place these forms into three broad categories. ‘Secure attachment’ is evident in approximately 50 to 67 % of parents’ relationships in industrialized countries. Researchers give the following example: when the parent returns to the room, following a short absence, the baby will often provide an overt display of delight at her return. The small person will smile, laugh, wave, and crawl towards her. If the parent picks him up, he will smile, kiss, hug and sink into her body. He will never act aggressively, pushing away, biting, hitting or squirming (Over and Carpenter 2009). The unsocially attached person seems susceptible to temper tantrums, throwing toys and hitting the parent. In the strange situation, when left alone with a stranger, these people are less likely to display overt anxiety, yet clearly are anxious since measures of heart rate show increase consistent with an anxiety experience. When the parent returns, the small child might avoid her, or move towards her but move away again without making any physical contact. The study made by Over and Carpenter (2009) suggests that: “Results showed that children primed with ostracism imitated the actions of a model significantly more closely than children not primed with ostracism. Interestingly, however, children in the two conditions did not differ in their tendency to turn on the light – every child did, or attempted to do this” (p. F5). Sex-role identity is the part of our personality which is responsible for our sex-appropriate behavior. Some behaviors stereotypically defined as male might be drinking beer, playing football, swearing, wearing trousers, smoking cigars or a pipe, flattering women, being decisive, being aggressive. Some stereotypical female sex-appropriate behaviors might be wearing lipstick, sewing, being unassertive, being emotional, wearing dresses, drinking cocktails, flirting with men, being defenseless, being submissive. Social learning approach makes a good deal of common sense. If people witness aggressive behavior, then that behavior will become legitimized to the person by the very fact that there is now a precedent for it (Over and Carpenter 2009).

In sum, the statement by John Donne is true as a man cannot live in isolation from society. As noted above, throughout a person’s life, other people help with services, information, money, or advice when there are needed to deal with a stressor or to achieve a goal. To a greater or lesser degree, they express caring, affection, and respect for the person; they help him maintain a sense of who he is and where he belongs.

Cacioppo, J. T., Patrick, W. 2008, Loneliness: Human Nature and the Need for Social Connection. W.W. Norton & Co.

Carvallo, M., Gabriel, Sh. 2006, No man Is an Island: The Need to Belong and Dismissing Avoidant Attachment Style. Personal Social Psychological Bulletin ; 32 (1), p. 697.

Dumm, Th. 2008. Loneliness as a Way of Life . Harvard University Press

Hawkley, L. C. Thisted, R. A., Cacioppo, J. T. 2009. Loneliness Predicts Reduced Physical Activity: Cross-Sectional & Longitudinal Analyses. Health Psychology American Psychological Association 28 (3), pp. 354–363

Higdon, Juliet. 2004. From Counselling Skills to Counsellor: A Psychodynamic Approach (Paperback). Palgrave Macmillan.

Howard, Susan. 2005. Psychodynamic Counselling in a Nutshell . Sage Publications Ltd, November.

Kelly, G. A. 2002. The psychology of personal constructs . New York: Norton.

Myers, David G. 2002. Psychology . Hope College. Worth Publishers, Holland, Michigan. Fourth edition.

Neimeyer, R. A. & Neimeyer, G. J. (Eds.) 2002. Advances in Personal Construct Psychology . New York: Praeger.

Over, H., Carpenter, M. 2009. Priming third-party ostracism increases affiliative imitation in children. Developmental Science 12 (3), pp F1–F8

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“No Man Is An Island” Poem by John Donne – An Analysis

Humans love a good quote, and the subject of our discussion today is one that includes two immensely famous quotes. The first of which is in the title of the article itself, because we are looking at the No Man Is An Island poem by John Donne, and it includes both the famous phrase that is the title, as well as the phrase, “for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee”. These two quotes alone, which are so closely connected to one another in the text itself, should be enough to pique some interest as to how exactly they are connected to one another. So, if you want to know and understand just how and why they are attached to one another, and perhaps learn a few other things along the way, then give this article and analysis a shot!

Table of Contents

• 1 No Man Is An Island Poem by John Donne Analysis
• 2 No Man Is An Island Poem by John Donne Summary Points
• 3 Biography of John Donne
• 4.1 Section One
• 4.2 Section Two
• 4.3 Section Three
• 5 The Themes of the No Man Is An Island Poem by John Donne
• 6.1 What Is the No Man Is An Island Poem by John Donne?
• 6.2 Who Was John Donne?
• 6.3 Who Were the Metaphysical Poets?
• 6.4 What Other Texts Did John Donne Write?
• 6.5 What Are the Themes of the No Man Is An Island Poem by John Donne?

No Man Is An Island Poem by John Donne Analysis

There are the occasional things in this world that we perceive to be one way, but they are not actually that way at all. This is the case when it comes to the No Man Is An Island poem by John Donne. Why is this not the way that it seems with this particular poem? Well, probably because it is not a poem at all. Instead, this “poem” is an extract from Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions , which is a prose work rather than a poetic work. However, the particular section that makes use of the “no man is an island” line can be read as if it were poetry.

While the broader context of this “poem” will be discussed once we get to our actual analysis of the No Man Is An Island Poem by John Donne, it should be stated in brief here. The extract is from the 17 th Devotion, or Meditation XVII, of this longer text. It can be viewed on its own, but as with any extract, it is often best to view it within that broader context. We’ll have a more in-depth examination soon enough though. For now, we will first have a look at a few other small points that surround this particular “poem”, but first, a summary of things to come.

No Man Is An Island Poem by John Donne Summary Points

We all like to have a summary every now and then. It makes it easier to parse through the endless information that swirls around every single day. This is probably why we’re including one right here! While we will discuss things in more depth after the summary, this short section may be helpful to whoever may have need of it:

• No Man Is An Island is from Devotions upon Emergent Occasions . As part of this longer text by John Donne, it should be remembered and noted that the No Man Is An Island poem by John Donne is not complete and devoid of context. While it can be read alone, it is also integral to see that there’s a larger context at play.
• No Man Is An Island is about the interconnectedness of humanity. The meaning of the No Man Is An Island poem by John Donne may technically need to be understood in the context of the larger prose text that surrounds it, the text is ultimately about the way in which we as people are all connected to one another. We need to learn to understand this reality of the world because many tend to embrace individuality over an appreciation for our collective existence.
• No Man Is An Island is from the metaphysical poetry tradition. John Donne was the writer of this particular extract, and while it is not actually poetry and is instead an example of more poetic prose, it can still be seen as part of the tradition that incorporated intellectual ideas, heavier use of language, and a conversational style of writing.

A summary can go a long way to help someone out. Whenever I used to teach, I would provide my students with all sorts of summaries to help them out when it came time to study. Did it help them? It certainly seemed to! The additional resource is something that can be used to great effect, and so if you too would like to understand something but in a quick and easy format.

Hopefully, the above has managed to do exactly that!

Biography of John Donne

John Donne is one of the most influential 17 th -century English writers and an important figure in the metaphysical poets. Over the course of his life, he was a number of different things, such as a soldier and a secretary, but he has maintained an influence because of his literature. His work, interestingly, often fluctuated between deep poems about love and sensuality as well as various academic and poetic works about religious concepts and ideas. His poetry can be found to have explored various formats and mediums, and he produced scholarly work in fields unrelated to poetry. During his career, he was also employed at the St. Paul’s Cathedral as the Dean but spent much of his life engaging in expensive pursuits that drained much of his inheritance, such as travel and womanizing.

His work as one of the metaphysical poets would lead to him being a major figure in the development of complex poetry that made use of paradoxical concepts, ironic understandings, everyday language, and often unusual language. While the term “metaphysical poet” would actually only be a term that was applied in retrospect, he certainly did come to be seen as one of the greatest poets to have lived within that particular period of English literature.

An In-Depth Analysis of the No Man Is An Island Poem by John Donne

It has been mentioned before, but it stands to be reiterated because it is a rather important thing to keep in mind when analyzing something like this, but the No Man Is An Island poem by John Donne is a text that does not technically stand alone. It is part of a larger text named Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions , and so there are certain contextual aspects of the broader text that should be noted. For instance, the entire text was written while Donne was recovering from an illness, and so there are references to life and death, rebirth, and disease as something divine that comes from God because of sinfulness.

These kinds of aspects of the larger text will not be given any deliberate focus, but they do inform the text that we will read below.

Furthermore, the text is not actually a poetic text at all, but rather a prose one, and so the sectioning of the text that I do below is only for analysis reasons rather than because they are actual stanzas. However, even though it is not technically a poem, it has been treated as such by many, and I will continue that trend here because while the text is not actually poetry, it is poetic prose, and so thinking of it in poetic terms can be an interesting means of exploring the text. However, we are only going to get into the weeds of things if we actually jump in and get to the analysis!

Section One

No man is an island,

Entire of itself;

Every man is a piece of the continent,

A part of the main.

The first line of the No Man Is An Island poem by John Donne is one of the most famous quotes that Donne ever produced, and it has a rather simple meaning. The metaphor of landmasses is used to explain human connection. No humans are entirely alone and independent, like islands dotted about the ocean. Instead, we are actually all part of one great continent. This establishes the theme of human connection that stands as one of the themes of the text.

The final line reiterates this. No one is alone, because we can see all others as part of one unity, and so we’re all components “of the main”. As the work of John Donne was focused on religious and spiritual ideas, we can also see this as having a spiritual dimension. We may not be conjoined together in a physical sense, like some kind of grotesque Akira monstrosity.

We are connected to each other on a deeper and less physical level.

Section Two

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.

The idea of humanity being connected persists into this second section. It tells us that if some of that continent were to float away if it were to break off and disappear, we would be the worse for it. It makes use of three different images of something breaking away and washing away to say that they are all equal: a clod, or small piece, a promontory, a large section of rock, or even a friend’s home, which is something man-made but still part of the whole.

The second and final lines of this section explore the idea of the loss that would be felt. The second line mentioned how “Europe” would be “less” if anything were to fall away, and Donne was writing from a Eurocentric mindset, but in the modern day, we could use any continent or landmass. Whereas the final line states that “or of thine own were”, which means that we should see all of these different parts that may fall away as being part of a singular whole that includes us.

The whole is us and we are the whole.

Section Three

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.

The final section tells us that the death of any should weaken and diminish the individual because we are all part of the same whole. And the last two lines are some of the most famous in 17 th -century English literature. It makes use of the imagery of church bells that have tolled to signify the death of someone, but if we are all connected to one another then we should not wonder “for whom the bell tolls”, because “it tolls for thee”, meaning the individual. Every death harms the collective, and every individual is the collective.

The Themes of the No Man Is An Island Poem by John Donne

The primary themes that can be found in the No Man Is An Island poem by John Donne have to do with humanity and our connection with one another. The poem wants to explore this idea of humanity being one and the same. We are not actually entirely distinct entities that exist separate from one another, but we are instead all part of the same great organism. We can see this in very spiritual terms.

The sense of community that the poem expresses to us is a major aspect, and the phrase “no man is an island” has gone on to be shorthand for this very idea.

We need each other. Humans are not meant to be entirely alone but are rather meant to be living among one another, collaborating and cooperating, to advance the interests of society as a whole. There is a supreme level of hopefulness in a theme such as this, a desire for us all to understand one another on a deeper level.

This sense of connection also continues into the final message of the No Man Is An Island poem by John Donne. When it comes to the death of the individual, the text expresses that we all die when others die. We are all part of each other, and so the death of any amounts to a death of the whole, and we are all part of the whole. These kinds of ideas have remained powerful comments on the connectivity of the human species.

With this final recapping of the themes of the No Man Is An Island poem by John Donne, we have come to the end of it all! This extract from a longer prose text may not technically be a poem at all, but it makes use of the kind of poetic language that lends itself to being interpreted as such far more than one might see an ordinary extract of prose. We have provided an analysis of the text, as well as a few additional pieces of information, such as a biography of the poet and some of the themes under examination. Hopefully, this article has been a good resource for understanding the No Man Is An Island poem by John Donne, but perhaps you also have your own interpretations of the text, and those should also be explored!

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the no man is an island poem by john donne.

The No Man Is An Island poem by John Donne is not actually a poem at all. Instead, it is an extract from a larger prose text titled Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions . It is also, more specifically, from the section titled Meditation XVII. However, it has often been taken as its own text because it can stand somewhat on its own. There is technically a broader context around the text as a whole, but as it is written in poetic prose, it can be read on its own.

Who Was John Donne?

John Donne was a poet and scholar from the 17th century. He was a prominent member of what would retrospectively be titled the metaphysical poets. His work was often noted for its sensuality and its religious conviction. He wrote many different texts over his career, and his work is often noted for its use of ironic and intellectual musings, everyday language usage, and abruptness in their openings.

Who Were the Metaphysical Poets?

The metaphysical poets were a group of 17th-century English poets who all had similar general styles and ideas that they were expressing. They often wrote in a more conversational style, used intellectual ideas, and inventive expressions of language. The poets who have been put under this label did not create the term themselves. Instead, it was Samuel Johnson who would coin the term long after the metaphysical poet era had come to an end. For this reason, it was a term created in retrospect. John Donne would remain one of the best-known 17th-century English writers thanks to his work.

What Other Texts Did John Donne Write?

John Donne wrote in many different mediums, and he wrote extensively. When it came to his poetry, he wrote texts such as Death Be Not Proud (1633) and his Holy Sonnets (1633), but other than these, he also wrote prose texts like Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions (1624). In addition to these kinds of texts, he also wrote various epigrams, sermons, and translations. His work was extensive and has become immensely influential. He would also go on to be seen as one of the preeminent members of the metaphysical poets even though this was never a label that he used. 

What Are the Themes of the No Man Is An Island Poem by John Donne?

The principal themes of the No Man Is An Island poem by John Donne have to do with the interconnectedness of humanity. We are all together upon the earth and we should try to understand our place in terms such as these. It advocates for an understanding of humanity as part of a greater community than the individual alone and how we will all eventually reach our end. The text is a meditation on life itself and the very nature of humanity in general.

Justin van Huyssteen is a freelance writer, novelist, and academic originally from Cape Town, South Africa. At present, he has a bachelor’s degree in English and literary theory and an honor’s degree in literary theory. He is currently working towards his master’s degree in literary theory with a focus on animal studies, critical theory, and semiotics within literature. As a novelist and freelancer, he often writes under the pen name L.C. Lupus.

Justin’s preferred literary movements include modern and postmodern literature with literary fiction and genre fiction like sci-fi, post-apocalyptic, and horror being of particular interest. His academia extends to his interest in prose and narratology. He enjoys analyzing a variety of mediums through a literary lens, such as graphic novels, film, and video games.

Justin is working for artincontext.org as an author and content writer since 2022. He is responsible for all blog posts about architecture, literature and poetry.

Learn more about Justin van Huyssteen and the Art in Context Team .

Cite this Article

Justin, van Huyssteen, ““No Man Is An Island” Poem by John Donne – An Analysis.” Art in Context. January 22, 2024. URL: https://artincontext.org/no-man-is-an-island-poem-by-john-donne/

van Huyssteen, J. (2024, 22 January). “No Man Is An Island” Poem by John Donne – An Analysis. Art in Context. https://artincontext.org/no-man-is-an-island-poem-by-john-donne/

van Huyssteen, Justin. ““No Man Is An Island” Poem by John Donne – An Analysis.” Art in Context , January 22, 2024. https://artincontext.org/no-man-is-an-island-poem-by-john-donne/ .

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No Man is an Island Meaning, Summary and Analysis by John Donne

The phrase “No man is an island (unto himself)” has percolated into popular parlance, and the suggestive thought of man’s interconnectedness overruling the dictum of his individuality (or even insularity) is hardly a new thought for us. But in the Elizabethan age when John Donne had composed the meditation “No Man Is An Island”, the poem is structured in a peculiar fashion such that the resultant effect on reading it is not merely a realization of the universal humanity Donne is hinting at. Instead, it is the lifecycle of each mortal being, being propelled towards his inevitable death, and even God’s schemes which undermine that imagined community of men. Rather than being dismissed as a utopia, the meditation stresses the urgency of how man thrives in the company of his fellow human beings, and how he is but an insignificant component of the entire scheme, equipped with his own intrinsic set of functionalities and dispensations in the world-order.

Any individual human being, contrary to any antagonistic opinion he might be entitled to, cannot extricate himself from the rest of the living, breathing cosmic continuum and pretend to be complete of its own positionality, of the integrity of its stance. It is implausible for one man to grow and thrive in society without the love and affection of his fellow-citizens. Likening the isolated and insular man to an island, Donne insists how the individual is but a component of the larger mass of humanity, the “continent”, and can only exist in conjunction with the world outside.

The use of the island conceit here is effective in tracing the loci of human lives as bound with empty, endless seas (symbolic of trials, tribulations, perils, frustrations and such) as well as in proximity to other islands. The man is born to live out his life in the companion of other men, exposing his perceptions and insights to the adversities of an unfamiliar world, which he is an integral part of, and which also appears within the microcosm of the individual. The myth of self-sufficiency which has long been propagated for the “western man” as a master of nature as well as of the self is demolished at the very onset of the meditation.

Land, when eroded by the sea, simultaneously diminishes the size of the landmass in itself. The European continent, which has been alluded to here, also incidentally is nothing more than a vast island adrift in the breast of tremendous oceanic bodies and tectonic plates, yet which is also constituted by its variegated and innumerable populace. The loss of the individual eventually amounts to a diminution of the collective; the macrocosm is never entirely insulated from the ongoings of the microcosmic. The promontory jutting out of the sea is as exposed to the vagaries and scruples of destruction by the forces of the sea and the wind, as much as man is susceptible to the bereavement of what he holds near and dear. The poet might be condemning the superfluousness of the materialistic life in stating that the loss of a friend’s manor (or the

The promontory jutting out of the sea is as exposed to the vagaries and scruples of destruction by the forces of the sea and the wind, as much as man is susceptible to the bereavement of what he holds near and dear. The poet might be condemning the superfluousness of the materialistic life in stating that the loss of a friend’s manor (or the subjects own) might be a devastating loss of personal property for the owner concerned, but that equivalent importance must be attached by each one of us onto every singular person who forms a part of the world we too construct and inhabit.

Under these circumstances, any death of any one man cannot, for the narrator, be held as being circumscribed within the immediate family. The death of any one man sends out a ripple onto the world, which is diminished by his “deletion”, and the poet sees that as a tragedy for the human race. The “involvement” with mankind that Donne projects onto the narratorial voice is his and it is a politically charged commitment to humanity that is being propounded here. The personal is political and vice versa and boundaries can only sustain differences so far.

The death of a man does not signal the arrestation of that chapter in the book if life at all is to be perceived as a book penned down by the authoriality of the Divine Providence, but rather prepares the ground for the conversional transcendence of that chapter in his life. The bell which tolls in silent remembrance of the deceased is there to remind all of us that it is our loss. The collective “thee” refers to the unified race of humanity across all divisions and prescriptions of race, gender and so on, and resonates with the chiming of the bells.

The wholly isolated individual derides or is forgetful of the fact of his socially encoded existence, and of the many principles and ideas flowing in him, which are but regurgitated reproductions of ideas which have originated in the community of his brethren. There are a conspicuous exchange and transaction amongst all men, an organic connectedness which vibrates with life and vitality.

The eternal flux of human emotions can be imagined as a drama unfolding amidst the colossal sea underlying the scattered islands of human achievements. The individual, when attempting to discern his unique place in the world, cannot set up more lines of division than there already prevails.  Cognizance of this oneness, of the commonality of what we all share in our identities and behaviors, can help combat the woes inflicted by the reality of mortality. Only death is capable of truly extricating one person from another, but even then, the deceased are never forgotten, and the saga continues to grow.

With no man existing unto himself, the suffering caused by singular deaths is shared by many, and by empathizing with the other’s grievance, the individual can also be awakened into the greater truth of his oneness. There is also a responsibility that accompanies the act of claiming emotional ties to other persons, and human beings can learn from the sufferings and experiences of their fellow brethren to better prepare themselves for their own deaths, which as was surely the belief in contemporary circulation, a transliteral migration to another world.

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‘No Man Is An Island’, Meaning & Context

People usually think that the phrase ‘No man is an island’ comes from Shakespeare, as it sounds like it is one of Shakespeare’s many famous lines . It also sounds as though it may have come from the Bible. There are hundreds of quotations similarly mistaken as Shakespeare’s , such as “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned,” that comes from a Restoration play, The Mourning Bride by William Congreve

‘No man is an island’ is an idiom taken from a 17th century sermon by the Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral. The Dean happened to be John Donne , a clergyman who now, almost four hundred years later, is regarded as one of the greatest English poets.

It is often assumed that ‘no man is an island’ is from one of Donne’s poems: it’s ironic that though he is the author of some of the finest and most memorable verses in English poetry, this phrase, not from a poem, but a sermon, is the most famous quote from him.

Here is the full John Done quote from his sermon:

“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 any manner 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.”

No man is an island

Background to John Donne’s ‘No man is an island’ sermon

The words ‘No man is an island’ were embedded in a deeply Christian sermon about how human beings are connected to each other, and how important that connection is for the wellbeing and survival of any individual. When you hear the church bell tolling for someone who has died, don’t ask who it is, Donne says, just know that it’s tolling for you too because you are part of the same society and the death of anyone takes a part of your own life away.

The sermon is noted, not just for ‘no man is an island,’ but also the phrase ‘for whom the bell tolls,’ which was used by Ernest Hemingway as the title of his most famous novel.

John Donne and the development of English poetry

As Shakespeare was nearing the end of his playwriting career there was a new poetry taking hold in English. It was written by poets who were not professional writers but highly educated men who had careers in other areas like the Church, business, diplomacy, and the military.

Their poetry reflected their education and they used the latest developments in science, geography, astronomy, etc. to make their imagery: their poems had a strong intellectual component. Shakespeare himself, never for a moment one of the many poets who became old-fashioned in the face of the new poetry, became a part of this poetic development, which we now call ‘ metaphysical poetry ’ and the poets “the metaphysical poets,”. In fact, some of Shakespeare’s verse in his poems and plays were models for the metaphysical poets.

The metaphysical poets did not regard their poetry writing as meaning that they were “poets” in the sense that men like John Milton and Edmund Spencer were – they were busy men in their own fields who wrote poems more as a hobby, not publishing them but passing them around to friends who also wrote poems. In that way, they influenced each other. Looking at their poems now there are striking similarities, which amounts to their being a ‘school’ of poetry – ‘ the metaphysical poets .’

When we look back now at the metaphysical poets John Donne is, without doubt, the best of them. His poems are powerful and beautiful, mainly about love, but becoming some of the most powerful religious poems like his sonnets ‘Batter my heart three person’d God,’ ‘At the round earth’s imagined corners blow your trumpets angels’ and ‘Death be not proud, though some have called you mighty and dreadful’.

That development from love to religious poetry reflects Donne’s career and personal development. He trained as a lawyer then embarked on a life of adventure as a soldier and explorer, becoming well known as a man about town, popular with women. He settled down at the age of 25 as a high-level secretary, where he fell in love with his wealthy employer’s niece Anne More. He married her secretly, which enraged her uncle: the couple had to disappear. Donne wrote a small verse to describe their plight: “ John Donne, Anne Donne, Undone .”

The pair went to London where Donne eked out a meager living until he was elected to parliament in 1602. In the 16 years of their marriage, Anne gave birth to 12 children, dying during the birth of the twelfth.

After several years as a member of parliament, Donne converted from Catholicism to Anglicanism, took holy orders, and entered the church, eventually becoming the Dean of St Pauls, where he wrote and delivered a great number of wonderful sermons.

His sermons, as powerful as his poems, are full of lines and ideas that indicate an intense life, profound thoughts, and a strong sense of humour. Some other famous lines from his sermons are:

“When one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language”

“And who understands? Not me, because if I did I would forgive it all.”

“Death is an ascension to a better library”

“Reason is our soul’s left hand, faith her right. By these we reach divinity”

“He that hath all can have no more.”

Of all of John Donne’s quotes – from his sermons and poetry, “No man is an island” stands apart as the most perfect expression of an individual’s position in relation to society.

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amazing job

Is the translation of “Manor” in Donne’s original to “manner” correct? He didn’t mean “Manor” as a piece of land with houses and farms?

“if a Clod bee washed away by the Sea, Europe is the lesse, as well as if a Promontorie were, as well as if a Manor of thy friends or of thine owne were”

A clod of earth is a small part of the fields that comprise an estate, or Manor… So I think you are altogether correct to think Donne is speaking of the importance of a seemingly insignificant part of the whole. Thanks and well done.

Your’s is a question answered by context…. which inarguably confirms “manor” relates to one’s homestead, estate, or property.

Who said or wrote:

“Man. man, one can not live entirely without pity”

although I have always been an outsider, even in childhood not belonging to the places I lived as I had moved around since age 9yr old, since may 2001 I have lived a very secluded life almost a recluse most of the time. I saw people for an hour and a half some days. but they didn’t talk to me often. I had very little contact with those I saw in the self-help place I went to for help around problems I had. That became a way of life for me and became the only place I went where humans were. most kept back from me there. And I was told they all hated me. I never knew them. And the family grew up left home got their own lives and got busy and had very little time to spare to see me. and some families lived far away. for personal reasons I didn’t want to get involved with the men who asked, in the past 22 years, I have had very little involvement with men, I was lonely at first for a few years, however, I became used to it, I broke through the loneliness barrier. learned to enjoy my own company. However I found that my mental health was getting worse and worse, though I had no feeling of loneliness, I was becoming crazy in my mind. somewhat like tom Hank in the movie where he is shipwrecked on a desert island and has only a football to talk to. isolation. recently I went back to the old church that I had been in when I was a young woman. and my mental health has improved, the love of the brothers and sisters there is like no other love I have ever known before, the acceptance. I have not known before. I am still having a bit of a problem with mixing in due to the prolonged isolation I have lived in. but I am improving slowly. i know what it feels like to be an island.

What a fascinating, sad, yet heart-warming journey you’ve had. Stay encouraged and keep pressing forward sister.. Life is difficult but also brings wonderful triumphs.

You speak very eloquently; as if you are a poet. I can relate to your anguish and I sincerely wish I could express myself as you do… I greatly admire your ability to express yourself. That being said… some food for thought: Life is a series of challenges… those challenges are more difficult for those of us who think differently. I truly believe there are few things we can change in life; however, the most life-changing innate power we possess is the ability to change our thoughts… and thereby change our lives. Wishing you nothing but peace and contentment… what true happiness is. ❤️

I’m glad for you, sister. I know what it’s like to be an outsider too. Thank God for true friends!

It’s noteworthy that John Donne speaks of ‘Europe’ not ‘England’.

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No Man Is an Island

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John Donne wrote “No Man Is an Island” as a part of his “Meditation 17” devotional writing, published in Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions in 1624. Donne is usually associated with a group 17th century poets called the metaphysical poets, who combined complex, unconventional metaphors with scientific allusions and a focus on religion, death, or love. While “No Man Is an Island” originated in prose form, the comprising lines are often extracted as stand-alone verse. The poem’s speaker addresses a general, unidentified audience—one assumed to include all of humanity. In addition to being metaphysical poetry, the text is lyrical, as it delineates the personal thoughts and emotions of the speaker. Donne’s religious clerical occupation, devoted to guiding humankind away from material existence and toward an understanding of mortality, informs this particular excerpt of his work. His clerical duties, as well as the trauma suffered in his personal life, provide an interpretive framework. The text speaks to the interconnectedness of humankind and a recognition of humanity’s shared mortality.

Poet Biography

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Like many of his contemporaries, John Donne fell out of popularity regarding his writing not long after his death. It wouldn’t be until the early 1900s that interest in Donne’s poetry and sermons resurrected. Donne was born in 1572 to Elizabeth Heywood and his father, also named John Donne. The family were recusant Catholics and endured prejudicial social and political hostility; at the time, the nationally prescribed faith was Anglicanism, that of the Church of England.

When Donne was approximately four years old, his father passed away and his mother remarried John Syminges, a wealthy physician practicing in London. When he was 11, Donne entered Oxford University and later studied at Cambridge. His Catholicism, however, precluded a degree from either school, as graduation required an oath to Anglican doctrine. After his studies, Donne entered the legal field at Lincoln’s Inn when he was 20 years old. In 1593, Donne’s brother Henry was imprisoned for his Catholicism and died of the plague while incarcerated. Shortly after witnessing his brother’s fatal persecution, Donne capitulated to political pressure and converted to Anglicanism.

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During the 1590s, Donne published two volumes of poetry: Satires and Songs and Sonnets, poems of love and religious meditation. Most of Donne’s poems began as manuscripts that would circulate among his social circles. From 1596 through 1597, after the death of his brother and at least two years of legal studies, Donne joined the English naval expeditions to Cadiz and the Azores against Spain as a “gentleman adventurer.” After his return from these travels, he became a private secretary for judge and Lord Chancellor Sir Thomas Egerton.

Through his employment with Sir Thomas Egerton, Donne met his future wife, Anne More, who was Egerton’s niece and the daughter of a member of Parliament. Donne, having learned about politics and foreign affairs during his time with Egerton, entered Parliament himself in 1601, and married More secretly. When Egerton and More’s father eventually learned of the marriage, they censured the union, and Donne was removed from Egerton’s employment in 1602. The dowry was withheld, and Donne was imprisoned for a period. Donne and More received the dowry eight years later, though for the first years of their marriage the couple struggled financially to support their growing family.

It is during this middle period of his life that Donne’s writing began to take on a more religious tendency, sometimes embodying deep personal anxiety and doubt. In 1607 he published his collection of Divine Poems , followed three years later by Pseudo-Martyr, a prose tract arguing that an Oath of Allegiance to James I would not contradict the Catholic faith, thus implying Catholics ought to take the Oath. The publication garnered Anglican attention and acceptance, and Donne, despite his profound misgivings, was pressured by James I into ministerial ordination in the Anglican Church (James I even threatened that Donne would not find any alternate occupation). In 1615, Donne was ordained and soon after was named Royal Chaplain. In 1617, Anne Donne died while in labor with their 12th child (who did not survive childbirth). Most critics believe that Donne’s Holy Sonnets, published after his death, are tied to this time of his life that was so marked with hardship and turmoil.

Donne was named dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London in 1621. About three years later, while ill, Donne wrote and published Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions— works reflecting a preoccupation with death and sickness. He died in London on March 31, 1631.

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.

Donne, John. “ No Man is an Island .” 1624. DiscoverPoetry.com.

The speaker begins with a blatant negation of the notion that humankind can ever be separate or isolated from one another. Rather than being an “island” (Line 1), every human is connected, forming one big “continent” (Line 3). The speaker elaborates on this sense of unity by painting a picture of how the sea washes away the earth . Just as a landmass is affected by the vanishing of a single piece of earth, an outcropping of land, or a larger manor, humanity is reduced and affected by the death of each human being. A single person’s death “diminishes” (Line 10) the whole population both physically and spiritually. The speaker’s message ends with an admonishment: Rather than taking interest in the names of those around them who have recently died, a person ought to see their fellow humans’ death as a reminder of their shared mortality.

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No Man is an Island Poem Summary, Notes And Line By Line Analysis In English By John Donne

Table of Contents

Introduction

John Donne in his poem “No Man is an Island” explores the interconnectedness of all people. Donne essentially makes the case that because each person is a part of the larger whole that is humanity itself, people need one another and are better off together than they are alone. The passage is a well-known passage from Donne’s Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions rather than a whole poem.

The Devotions explore what it means to be a human being and the relationship between humanity and God. They were written in 1623 while Donne was suffering from a terrible illness. The 23 sections of this book each include a “Meditation,” a “Expostulation,” and a “Prayer.” The section in question is from the 17th “Meditation.”

About the poet

Born into a family of recusants, John Donne was an English poet, scholar, soldier, and secretary who subsequently joined the Church of England as a cleric. He was appointed Dean of London’s St. Paul’s Cathedral with royal support (1621–1631). He is regarded as the foremost poet who embodies metaphysical poets.

His poetical creations, which include sonnets, love poems, religious poetry, Latin translations, epigrams, elegies, lullabies, and satires, are known for their figurative and sensual style. He is renowned for his sermons as well.

The notion is continued in the following quatrain. He continues by claiming that anything the continent lost, from a “promontory” to a “clod” or a “manor,” would make it less. This is related to people and how each loss or death harms society as a whole. Because of our interconnectedness, we cannot afford to be careless with one another’s lives.

Donne builds on the points he established earlier by stating that “thine friends'” loss is just as important as “yours” in the sestet, the sonnet’s final six lines. When one person is hurt, everyone is hurt. The poet then addresses himself and his relationship to “mankind” in the first person of the poem. He claims that “Each man’s death” makes him less than.

He is “engaged” in how people function. The final three sentences deal specifically with death and what it implies when a fresh death occurs. He represents death with the sound of a church bell. He tells the listener not to inquire “For whom” it tolls because it “tolls for” you when it rings. It is as if everyone has passed away whenever somebody dies.

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