Meditation 17

A metaphor is a literary device or “figure of speech” in which the speaker or writer equates two otherwise dissimilar entities; the equation—which is ultimately a comparison—illuminates the ideas anew. When Donne explains the interconnectedness of humanity, he establishes a metaphor that humankind (one entity) is a book (a dissimilar entity): “All mankind is of one author and is one volume” (Line 6). This volume holds many chapters, and each chapter is metaphorically one person’s life. The book metaphor plays into a larger image of consolation in the context of human mortality: “And his [God’s] hand shall bind up all our scattered leaves again,” presumably at the end of time, gathering all people into “that library where every book shall lie open to one another” (Line 6). In this case, heaven is a metaphorical library in which each leaf (page) of each chapter of each volume is lovingly kept. Additionally, in this library, no one will be closed or secretive or shut off; everyone will be open. This openness suggests a deep security and not a vulnerability, prefiguring the final line of the sermon when Donne announces that “God is our only security” (Line 20).