Write a short story entitled: “No man is an island”.
Answers
Explanation:
No man is an island
No man is an island is a phrase from a longer, often quoted literary work. However, the expression no man is an island may be considered a proverb in its own right. A proverb is a short, common saying or phrase that gives advice or shares a universal truth. We will examine the meaning of the expression no man is an island, where it came from and some examples of its use in sentences.
The phrase no man is an island means that no one is truly self-sufficient, everyone must rely on the company and comfort of others in order to thrive. As with many proverbs, often only the first line is repeated, as the writer expects the reader to supply the rest of the quote himself. The phrase is a quote from a sermon written by the poet John Donne. It is entitled Devotions upon emergent occasions and several steps in my sicknes—Meditation XVII, written in 1624: “No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main…” Interestingly, within the same paragraph of this work are two phrases that are still often used: “…any man’s death diminishes me…” and “…therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.” John Donne was an English cleric in the Church of England and was one of the metaphysical poets.
Answer:
Answer: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 if a manor of thy friend’s 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.
The meaning of Donne’s ‘No man is an island’ meditation is fairly straightforward. We should feel a sense of belonging to the whole of the human race, and should feel a sense of loss at every death, because it has taken something away from mankind.
The funeral bell that tolls for another person’s death also tolls for us, because it marks the death of a part of us, but also because it is a memento mori, a reminder that we ourselves will die one day.
The power of the passage is in the language Donne chooses to use. In many ways, it’s a natural extension of his earlier metaphysical poetry, which often unravelled a single idea, thinking through the metaphor, developing it, taking it to its logical conclusion, and, occasionally, deliberately taking it to absurd extremes.
Here, the development of the central metaphor is more staid, but is still noteworthy for its being extended over the course of several sentences. Nobody lives or exists alone, and we are all part of something greater. Each individual person is like a part of the mainland or a piece of a bigger continent, rather than an island nation that is self-sufficient and cut off from the rest.
It’s surprising the Donne’s ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls’ meditation hasn’t been co-opted for political ends during the age of Brexit. The assertion that ‘every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main’ lends itself to a Remainer perspective, that we are stronger remaining together, while the later statement that ‘if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less’ could readily be seized upon by either the Remain or Leave camps.
But that’s perhaps an idle meditation, unlike Donne’s. Perhaps we should just be thankfully it hasn’t been brought into political service.
By way of concluding this analysis, it’s worth noting that the ‘No man is an island’ paragraph is not, in fact, the conclusion of Donne’s Meditation XVII. Instead, there is a further paragraph, which runs:
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