phrases, sayings, idioms and expressions at

John Donne and No man is an island...

Posted by Harikrishnan Menon on February 20, 2003

In Reply to: John Donne and No man is an island... posted by Deborah Najarro on February 20, 2003

The lines are from John Donne's "Meditation XVII
- Devotions upon Emergent Occasions".

The paragraph in context (in modern spelling) is as follows:

"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."

isu.indstate.edu/ ilnprof/ENG451/ISLAND will give you additional information.

© 1997 – 2024 Phrases.org.uk. All rights reserved.