poetry texts, poem archive at plagiarist.com

I know John Donne used the line For whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee. But im not sure he made it in a poem, i think it might have been part of a bigger work.

Yes this was part of a bigger work
a meditation on isolation and mortality.

For more on this phrase, check out john Donne's Devotions upon Emergent Occasions, specifically meditation 17. Wehn you hear the church bell ring signalling a death, do not ask for whom it tolls, we all lose something precious when one of us passes and thus the bell tolls for us all.

The 'ask not' line actually stands better on its own than it does in this poem. Here the meaning is paired down, so it is difficult to get the 'we are all mortal,' meaning from it, as the 'we share the pain of our fellow man predominates'. This is unfortunate, as the line, taken alone, resonates so deeply and powerfully.

Later today I shall be reading Donne's meditational piece at a funeral service of an aquaintence of ours. He was not a close friend but I feel compelled to speak these lines as even whilst terminally ill he transmitted his enthusiasm for creating his ceramics art to those who cared to listen.
Thus, he was an important part of mankind and his death diminishes me. The bell will indeed toll for me as well as Jim.

If part of land be washed away in sombody`s country, by a tsunami....It is not a different country. But it is my world. I am part of that world. One day, my tun will come.
While living let me be with that constant consciousness.

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,

The meaning of the poem is simply that the rich an powerful are of no more value in God's eyes (Donne was very religious) than the "commoner".

One word in the posted poem is incorrect; in the line "As well as if a manner of thine own.." the word "manner" should be "manor," meaning one's estate. A number of other words do not match the original (which is odd, since Donne wrote in English), but only this particular error changed the meaning.