John Donne's "Meditation 17" (pp 488-490)

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1. What event does the tolling bell announce? Why does Donne say that the tolling bell applies to him as well as others? *

2. Explain the difference in connotation between "tolling" and "ringing" when they are describing bells *

3. Why does John Donne say he should be concerned about each child's baptism and each parishioner's funeral in the church? Why does it affect him even if he doesn't know the child or the deceased parishioner? *

4. Explain Donne's famous conceit, "No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main." *

5. Describe another conceit that Donne uses in "Mediation 17" *

6. Why should a person never "send to know" (i.e. ask) for whom a funeral bell is tolling? What is the inevitable answer? *

7. Donne says that, once one takes the bell as tolling for oneself, one is "united to God." In urging people to think about their own deaths, what might he be implying about people's attachment to worldly things such as money, success, and popularity? *

8. Does the statement "No man is an island" still apply today? Why or why not? Could you suggest a more apt metaphor for today's society?

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