Meditation 17

John Donne, one of the most famous English writers of the Jacobean Age, is the central figure of a group of 17th-century poets called the Metaphysical poets. These poets combined complex, unusual metaphors with philosophic and scientific allusions, their poems often focusing on metaphysical quandaries (hence the name “Metaphysical poetry”). Donne wrote “Meditation 17” in 1623 while he was deathly ill, and though it isn’t a poem, the sermon still explores the metaphysical mystery of death. Upon recuperating from what is generally believed to be typhus, Donne published a series of 23 sermons into a single volume titled Devotions upon Emergent Occasions in 1624. “Meditation 17” is most known for two of its frequently quoted lines: “for whom the bell tolls” and “no man is an island.” This study guide’s numbered line citations refer to prose sentences, beginning with the epigraph.

“Meditation 17” bears a Latin epigraph—“Nunc lento sonitu dicunt, morieris”—translating, “Now, this bell tolling softly for another, says to me, Thou must die” (Line 1). This event triggers a series of reflections by the author. Donne begins his sermon by engaging a pretense: A church bell is ringing, signifying someone’s death (a traditional ceremony of the church on these occasions). Donne wonders if the man was so sick that he didn’t comprehend that the bell was announcing his death. This leads Donne to question if he, too, is sicker than he thought. Perhaps the people around him recognize the gravity of his illness. Perhaps, he says, he is so near to death that the bell is, in fact, announcing his own death.

Donne temporarily leaves this specific fictional scenario and broadens his reflections to the all-embracing nature of the church: “The church is catholic, universal” (Line 4). He uses the word “catholic” not as a distinction from other movements of Christianity but in the sense of the overarching Christian faith. He emphasizes the interconnectedness of the members of that religion when he personifies the church, saying, “[A]ll her actions; all that she does, belongs to all” (Line 4). Donne provides a specific illustration of his point: When a child is baptized and becomes a member of the church, he (Donne) is now connected to that child. Furthermore, Donne states, he is similarly connected to the death of any member of the church.

Donne then develops the first of three metaphysical conceits, or extended metaphors: Each person is a chapter of a book that is written by God. When one person dies, however, that chapter isn’t torn from the book. Instead, the metaphorical chapter—and the person it symbolizes—is translated into a better language. The translation, too, is symbolic: A person’s earthly life transforms into a heavenly afterlife, a transformation that Donne claims is inevitable for believers. Donne elaborates on the metaphor, establishing that God—the omniscient author of the metaphorical book—uses various means to “translate” a person from life to afterlife. The chapters (individual people) are translated (die and are reborn into eternity) by various means: old age, sickness, war, or execution. Nonetheless, God commissions each death. Donne closes the conceit with a tone of consolation, stating that the hand of God “shall bind up all our scattered leaves again” (Line 6), preparing the faithful for the ultimate library, which is heaven.

Donne returns to the initial point—the interconnectedness of humanity—by paralleling two cause-and-effect scenarios: The sermon bell rings, and the preacher and congregation are called to church; likewise, the death bell rings, and the dying man is called to heaven. The theme of the interconnection between church members reiterates with the words, “so this bell calls us all” (Line 6) (Donne’s references waver between the church and all of humanity, sometimes treating them interchangeably). The conclusion comes full circle when Donne again questions, “[B]ut how much more me, who am brought so near the door by this sickness” (Line 6). He wonders if his calling is the more urgent because of his own nearness to death.

Donne recounts an anecdote about various religious groups that were debating who had the right to ring their bell first on such occasions. Whichever church rang first was the first to call their congregation to prayers, basically getting the jump on neighboring churches. Donne explains the conclusion: Whoever woke first could ring first. Donne uses this scenario to teach a deeper lesson. He reminds his listeners of the “dignity of this bell” (Line 8), making the connection to the tolling of the death bell. The daily prayer bell should remind the listener of their own inevitable death bell, and Donne suggests the listener should spend that day in a Christian manner. Donne circles back to the initial bell ringing and makes his point. The bell tolls for every person who hears it, and from that moment, each person who reflects on their ultimate death is united with God. Donne poses a series of rhetorical questions, a signature technique of the late-Renaissance writer. He asks: Isn’t everyone drawn to the rising sun? Who can look away from the sight of a comet crossing the night sky? And who can help but listen to a bell when they hear it ringing? Donne brings his point home by asking: How can you listen to a death bell ringing and not acknowledge that a part of yourself dies when another person dies?

The next section of the sermon begins with the famous line: “No man is an island, entire of itself” (Line 14). Donne develops this second conceit by likening a person to a piece of dirt that is, in turn, a piece of a continent. He presents a series of analogies in which the seemingly insignificant is manifestly inseparable from the greater importance of the whole: If even a “clod be washed away by the sea” (Line 14), then Europe is smaller. Moreover, this small “clod” being washed away is no less consequential than if an entire peninsula were washed away—not just a peninsula but a friend’s estate, and one’s own estate. This extended metaphor effectively elevates a “clod” of earth to a friend’s property and to one’s own property; in other words, another person is the same as a friend, the same as oneself.

Donne uses these analogies to lead to the point of the conceit. He says, “[A]ny man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind” (Line 14). He drives home the point saying that you should not ask who the death bell is ringing for, it is ringing for you.

Donne realizes that some of his listeners could interpret this reaction as an undesirable “borrowing of misery,” but he directly counters this interpretation, saying, “Neither can we call this a begging of misery” (Line 15). However, Donne puts a spin on this argument, pointing out that “it were an excusable covetousness if we did; for affliction is a treasure, and scarce any man hath enough of it” (Line 16). This comparison—between affliction and treasure—launches the third conceit, conveying that the greatest wealth that a person can hope to attain is limitless hardship. Donne explains that hardship causes a person to mature and become “fit for God” (Line 17); affliction is thus invaluable, for it purifies and perfects the soul. Because the purpose of earthly life is to prepare for death and union with God, storing up vast suffering is part of that preparation. Connecting this conceit to the overarching metaphor of the bell, Donne concludes that hearing the bell announcing another man’s hardship transfers spiritual gold to the listener, insofar as the listener understands the bell toll equally for themselves and is thereupon drawn to contemplation. The gold is only valuable if the listener contemplates how their own hardships are an opportunity to grow closer to God. The sermon ends with a pronouncement: A person is only truly safe when they trust solely in God, “who is our only security” (Line 20).