Painterly pale stone and terracotta hands reaching towards each other across a small gap.

Original artwork, not a still

Devotions XVII

John Donne

No man is an Island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the Continent, a part of the main ... 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.

Behind the line

What it means

Our interpretation.

No person stands wholly alone; each is part of a larger whole, like a fragment of a continent. Therefore another's death lessens us, because we share in humanity. The closing lines say not to ask who the tolling bell mourns, since its sound also concerns you.

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