For fun I looked up how Donne originally wrote it in 1624:
> No man is an Iland, intire of it ſelf; euery man is a piece of the Continent, a part of the maine; if a clod be waſhed away by the Sea, Europe is the leſſe, as wel as if a Promõtory were, as well as if a Mannor of thy friends, or of thine owne were; Any mans death diminiſhes mee, becauſe I am inuolued in mankind; and therefore neuer ſend to know for whom the bell tols; It tols for thee.
Italics are original. Weird chars are best attempts by LLM transcription. Still quite readable, but interesting how much spelling has changed/standardized. Because its prose, I think we feel more free to modernize it than if it was poetry.
scan of it as published in 1624:
https://archive.org/details/bim_early-english-books-1475-164...
and a more readable 1924 republish: https://archive.org/details/devotionsuponeme00donnuoft/page/...
It doesn't end on "It tolls for thee" or start on "No man is..". It keeps going in both direction, and no indication he every meant for this section to be pulled out into its own small piece the way it has. Here's some of what comes after:
> ... It tolls for thee. Neither can we call this a begging of Miserie or a borrowing of Miserie, as though we were not miserable enough of our selves, but must fetch in more from the next house, in taking upon us the Miserie of our Neighbours. Truly it were an excusable covetousnesse if wee did; for affliction is a treasure, and scarce any man hath enough of it....
> No man is an Iland, intire of it ſelf; euery man is a piece of the Continent, a part of the maine; if a clod be waſhed away by the Sea, Europe is the leſſe, as wel as if a Promõtory were, as well as if a Mannor of thy friends, or of thine owne were; Any mans death diminiſhes mee, becauſe I am inuolued in mankind; and therefore neuer ſend to know for whom the bell tols; It tols for thee.
Italics are original. Weird chars are best attempts by LLM transcription. Still quite readable, but interesting how much spelling has changed/standardized. Because its prose, I think we feel more free to modernize it than if it was poetry.
scan of it as published in 1624: https://archive.org/details/bim_early-english-books-1475-164...
and a more readable 1924 republish: https://archive.org/details/devotionsuponeme00donnuoft/page/...
It doesn't end on "It tolls for thee" or start on "No man is..". It keeps going in both direction, and no indication he every meant for this section to be pulled out into its own small piece the way it has. Here's some of what comes after:
> ... It tolls for thee. Neither can we call this a begging of Miserie or a borrowing of Miserie, as though we were not miserable enough of our selves, but must fetch in more from the next house, in taking upon us the Miserie of our Neighbours. Truly it were an excusable covetousnesse if wee did; for affliction is a treasure, and scarce any man hath enough of it....