You Go = We Go

POEM:

“No Man Is An Island” by John Donne

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.


RESPONSE:

It was the custom during the times and culture in which John Donne lived (i.e., English Renaissance) for the Tenor Bell (A very loud and far reaching bell) to be tolled for a death. A deceased man was memorialized by the ringing of the "Taylors"—nine strokes of the bell, then a pause, before concluding the commemoration by a number of strokes equal to the man's age at the time of his death. A woman was similarly paid tribute except that her death was marked by seven (two fewer than that for a man) strokes, then the pause, followed by the number of strokes equal to her age at the time of her death. Upon hearing the bell, a messenger was sent to discover the name of the person that died—hence, "Therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee."

Donne's point was that the specific identity of the person who died was largely irrelevant. Donne viewed himself and (by implication and interpretation of the passage) all people as part of "mankind." Therefore, the death of anyone lessens mankind and affects everyone. Donne reinforces his view in the first part of the passage: As "no man is an island," everyone has an inherent obligation for empathy, benevolence, and compassion, wherever and whenever necessary and possible. To that same end, as part of mankind, Donne implies that everyone also has an inherent obligation to never cause the suffering or, worse, the "toll" of another person. To do so "diminishes" the person who, by such actions, causes an affront to mankind—and consequently to all people that are part of that mankind.