Josie Fell
Mrs Doklan
English 12 CP
December 11, 2012
Presentation Follow-Up
I.
The title and author
A. Title - Meditation 17
B. Author - John Donne
II.
Brief overview
A. This poem is about how every person intertwine with each other. If one person is affected
then everyone else is affected through the connecting of the church. People can learn
from other people dying and not make us so afraid of death. Death is just a “translation”
to another world.
III. A detailed breakdown of all lines of poem
Lines
“Perchance he for whom this bell tolls be so
ill as that he knows not it tolls for him;”
Analysis
The bell is ringing for someone who dies, the
person was so ill that he did not know it was
for him.
“and perchance I may think myself so much
The man thinks that he is not died because he
better than I am, as that they who are about
is in heaven looking down. Others can see his
me and see my state may have caused it to toll died body which makes the church bell ring.
for me, and I know not that.”
“The church is catholic, universal, so are all
her actions; all that she does belongs to all.”
Catholic church means that it embraces all
mankind. All the that women does affects
everyone.
Lines
Analysis
“When she baptizes a child, that action
concerns me; for that child is thereby
connected to that head which is my head too,
and ingrafted into that body where of I am a
member.”
The word head in this sentence means Christ
and body means the church. The sentence
says, the child is connected to Christ and so
am is she which means they are connected
through Christ and members of the church.
“And when she buries a man, that action
concerns me; all mankind is of one author and
is one volume; when one man dies, one
chapter is not torn out of the book, but
translated into a better language; and every
chapter must be so translated.”
All humans are created but one person, and
when one man dies that chapter of his life is
over but is then translated to heaven to be
with God which is the better language.
Everyone must die and be transfer to heaven.
“God employs several translators; some
pieces are translated by age, some by
sickness, some by war, some by justice; but
God’s hand is in every translation, and his
hand shall bind up all our scattered leaves
again for that library where every book lie
open to one another.”
There are many things that do the work of
death. However, God has a say or doing in all.
The word leaves in this sentence mean the
pages of the book. Meaning God will take
everything that happen in out life and put it all
together and put us with other peoples books
because without them our life would not exist.
“As therefore the bell that rings to a sermon
calls not upon the preacher only, but upon the
congregation to come, so this bell calls us all;
but how much more me, who am brought so
near the door by this sickness.”
When the death bells ring it not only calling
the preacher but every person who worship. It
will also ring for everyone when they die. It
calls me more because I am very sick and
near dying.
“There was a contention as far as a suit (in
which piety and dignity, religion and
estimation, were mingled) which of the
religious orders should ring to prayers first in
the morning; and it was determined that they
should ring first that rose earliest.”
The meaning of suit in this sentence is a
dispute that resulted in a lawsuit. The
meaning of piety is “religious devotion.” The
meaning of estimation is self-esteem. Which
means this sentence is saying there was an
argument about which religious person should
ring the bells first in the morning, and they
came to a conclusion of the person up the
earliest gets to ring the bell.
Lines
Analysis
“If we understand aright the dignity of this
bell that tolls for our evening prayer, we
would be glad to make it ours by rising early,
in that application, that it might be ours as
well as his whose indeed it is.”
If we knew that dedication to God the person
is, we too would want to be the first person to
awake. He wants to be blessed by God. so
when the day comes and this his final bell
rings he will be taken to God.
“The bell doth toll for him, that thinks it doth;
and though it intermit again, yet from that
minute that that occasion wrought upon him,
he is united to God.”
The word intermit in this sentence means
“pause.” So when the day comes and this his
final bell rings the pause in life he will be
taken to God because he was devoted to him.
“Who casts not up his eye to the sun when it
rises? but who takes off his eye from a
comet, when that breaks out? Who bends not
his ear to any bell which upon any occasion
rings? but who can remove it from that bell
which is passing a piece of himself out of this
world?”
Who does not look at a sunrise? How can you
miss seeing a comet? How can you not hear a
bell ring? How can you run away from a bell
that is taking you out of the world?
“No man is an island, entire of itself; every
man is a piece of the continent, a part of the
main.”
No one is a single person and can be
successful on their on, we are all connected
like a continent. If there is a creak or missing
piece form the continent it will just fall apart.
“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.”
“Promontory is a ridge of land extending out
into a body of water.” When one person dies
they are washed away from the land and
cannot be replaced, which makes the
continent smaller.
“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.”
Even though he may not know the person who
dies, the bell still rings for him because he is
part of mankind.
“Neither can we call this a begging of misery
or a borrowing of misery, as though we were
not miserable enough of ourselves but must
fetch in more from the next house, in taking
upon us the misery of our neighbors.”
We are not begging for the pain nor or we
borrowing the pain, and as though we didn’t
have enough pain in the first place, we feel
the pain of our neighbors.
Lines
Analysis
“Truly it were an excusable covetousness if
we did; for affliction is a treasure, and scarce
any man hath enough of it. No man hath
affliction enough that is not matured and
ripened by it, and made fit for God by that
affliction.”
Pain, suffering, and misery is a treasure.
Suffering and pain makes us learn and get
closer to God. Affliction is a treasure because
it brings you closer to God. You get closer to
Him by learning what he wants you to do in
His own way.
“If a man carry treasure in bullion, or in a
wedge of gold, and have none coined into
current moneys, his treasure will not defray
him as he travels.”
Bullion being in bars of metal. If the man has
not broken down his money her will not have
money to buy what he needs through his
travels. Therefore even though gold is
treasure it is not going to help pay the man’s
cost.
“Tribulation is treasure in the nature of it, but
it is not current money in the use of it, except
we get nearer and nearer our home, heaven,
by it.”
Tribulation means misery or suffering. We
should not dwell in misery because it cannot
help us pay for thinks except when we get
near to death.
“Another may be sick too, and sick to death,
and this affliction may lie in his bowels as
gold in a mine and be of no use to him; but
this bell that tells me of his affliction digs out
and applies that gold to me, if by this
consideration of another's danger I take mine
own into contemplation and so secure myself
by making my recourse to my God, who is
our only security.”
A man is sick and could be dying and his
suffering is hidden deep inside just like gold
underground. A lesson is learned to be when
the bell rings. Makes me call to my God for
help and protection. God is the only one who
can protected mankind.
IV. Significant literary devices
A. Metaphors
1. Compares death to a language being translated
a) “When one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a
better language” The purpose of using this metaphor is to show us how death can
be expressed.
2. Compares affliction to being gold
a) “If a man carry treasure in bullion, or in a wedge of gold, and have none coined
into current moneys, his treasure will not defray him as he travels.” Showing us
how heavy it can get to carry around all the grief and suffering around.
3. Compares a person being a continent
a) “No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part
of the main.” The metaphor show that the world is not only about one person we
are all connected together in some way.
B. Personification
1. Makes the church be a person
a) “The church is catholic, universal, so are all her actions; all that she does belongs
to all.” John personifies the church to show that the church is a connection to the
people even though it is not alive.
V. Tone
A. John Donne tone through the poem is calm and thoughtful. The tone is calm because he is
not stressing about death he is just stating things in a very non worrying way. Donne is
also thoughtful because of all the examples of how humans are interconnected.
VI. Theme
A. The theme of the people is, how people are all connected, when one person dies everyone
can feel the pain. The poem conveys this theme because of all the metaphors that are use
to explain how humans are connected. Throughout the whole poem Donne talked about
how when the bell rings signify the death of a person, you cannot ignore the fact that
someone died because you cannot, not hear a bell ring.
VII. Citations
Donne, John. "Meditation 17." Glencoe Literature: The Reader's Choice : British
Literature. New York [etc.: Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, 2000. 422-24. Print.
Luca, Andrei. "Time For Health." Time For Health. WordPress Lightword Theme, 8
Mar.
2011. Web. 11 Dec. 2012.
Schwartz, Debora B. "Donne and 17th-Century Poetry Study Questions." Donne and
17th-Century Poetry Study Questions. California Polytechnic State University,
Web. 12 Dec. 2012.