I was talking (rapturously) about F. Scott Fitzgerald and Hemingway the other day ... in a way I haven't talked about literature in a very long time ... and so, this came to mind. It is in fact the epigram for a favorite Hemingway...I am thinking I might find in my past the leisure reading for this summer. The original is here.
No man is an iland,
Intire of it selfe;
Every man is a peece of the Continent,
A part of the maine;
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 Mannor of thy friends
Or of thine own were;
Any mans death diminishes me,
Because I am involved in Mankinde;
And therefore, send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee.
John Donne
Meditation 17
These famous words by John Donne were not originally written as a poem - the passage is taken from the 1624 Meditation 17, from Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions and is prose. The words of the original passage are as follows:
Devotions upon Emergent Occasions
"No man is an iland, intire of it selfe; every man is a peece of the Continent, a part of the maine; 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 Mannor of thy friends or of thine owne were; any mans death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankinde; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee...."
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