Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions by John Donne | Summary, Analysis
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John Donne is known for his witty metaphysical poetry. However, he himself described his poetry as ‘a life-sign or minor irritation’ rather than something that defines him. His most important prose work was Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions that was published in 1624. During his lifetime, his poetic works were not so popular. Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions was published in 1624 and it is one of only seven works of John Donne that were published during his lifetime.
Background and Structure of Devotions
The full title of this prose work by Donne is Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions and Several Steps in My Sickness. In December 1623, John Donne fell seriously ill. As he was recovering from his sickness, he decided to write down all his experiences during the days of sickness. His sickness was strange and unknown and he decided to describe the illness he was suffering and all his thoughts that emerged during his recovery period. The main discourse of the book includes death, rebirth, and the then accepted idea of sickness. During the Elizabethan period, it was believed that sickness is a visit from God reflecting the internal sinfulness of a person. Thus, sickness was considered as a means of purification of a person’s character.
John Donne wrote this whole book within 23 days and it was registered in the Stationer’s Register on 9th January 1624.
The book is divided into 23 parts or chapters and each chapter has three sub-sections titled the ‘meditation’, the ‘expostulation’, and a ‘prayer.’ All these chapters are chronologically ordered. Each chapter covers his thoughts and experiences on a single progressive day of his recovery period.
While the whole book is a masterpiece, Chapter 17, or Devotion 17 got special attention during the recent time as it contains two very famous phrases ‘No Man is an Island,’ and ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls.’
In each chapter, Donne begins with a ‘Meditation’ in which he describes the stage of his illness, followed by an ‘Expostulation’ in which he noted his reaction to that stage of illness. The last part of each chapter is a ‘Prayer’ in which he makes peace with his illness, understanding that the illness reflects his own sinfulness and is purifying his existence in the devotion of God.
Each chapter begins with a preface titled Stations. These are single lines written in Latin. Researchers believe that all these 23 Stations constitute a poem by John Donne.
It is a prime example of Devotional writings of the 17th century and it signifies spiritual growth through the physical ordeal. However, many critics argue that it is political writing too as it resembles Arminian polemic. John Donne often opposed the publication of his works. He used to circulate his poems and prose in his friends' circle. However, he made sure that Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions be published as soon as he finished writing it. He further continued his argument offered in Pseudo Martyr in this book. Devotion XVI is explicitly against Puritanism. In Pseudo Martyr. John Donne argued that Roman Catholics of England should take Oath of Allegiance of James I of England and it appears as if John Donne wrote Devotions as a suggestion to Prince Charles against emerging puritans.
Meditation XVII No Man is an Island
Chapter 17 is a two-paragraph meditation in which Donne meditates upon the sound of a funeral bell in a nearby church. He was ill during the time and whenever he heard the sound of funeral bell, he contemplated about his own death. Donne begins the first paragraph by mentioning the ringing death-knell. He wonders if the person for whom this bell is ringing is so ill that he may never come to know that he is being called upon. Obviouslly, a dead person cannot hear his own funeral bell. Donne then applies the idea to his own sickness and then he universalizes the idea while suggesting that the ringing church bell is for everyone. Donne suggests that every human action affects the rest of the humanity in some manner. He suggests that the universality of Church emerges from God who is in charge of all transitions from earthly to spiritual world. He suggests that death is just a transition from mortal world to spiritual world and since God is the in charge of this transition, each death and its manner is decided by God Himself as he is the author and cause of each death. Donne then compares Funeral bell to Church Bell calling the congregation to worship. Both bells are universal and invite everyone for spiritual matters. Donne offers a fine imagery in the first paragraph as he mentions God as the author of everyone’s death. “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” Donne suggests that God decides the manner of each death. Weather a person dies of old-age, of sickness, in battle ground, or even if he is executed by the government for his crimes, all this is decided by God Himself. Donne mentions every living human as a chapter of God’s voluminous book. He then suggests that death is not an end of a person, rather death is just a transition through which that person’s chapter is translated into spiritual language. He suggests that it is pre-ordained that each living earthly chapter will be translated into that better language. Donne then suggests that after the death, that is translation into spiritual language, God again binds all the chapters together to offer an open book to be read by whole mankind. He suggests that each death is thus, a treasure that can be used for beneficial purposes as living humans can learn from the lives translated into spiritual language. Donne then mentions the disagreement between various religious groups to get the honor of being the first to ring the church bell calling everyone for prayers. It was then decided that whichever group rises earlier in the morning should ring the bell in that order. Donne again compares the church prayer bell to the funeral bell and calls everyone to carefully decide what to do everyday as the death-bell tolls for everyone. No Man is an Island No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as any manner of thy friends or of thine own were; 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. Donne begins the second paragraph of Meditation XVII with the famous phrase ‘No Man is an Island.’ In the second paragraph he consolidates his idea of universality of humanity and suggests that all men are connected to each other as no man is alone. Just like all dirt and sand clods are a part of the continent Europe and if a sand clod is removed or dissolved by the sea, it is a loss of the continent Europe as a whole, the death of any person is a loss to the humanity as whole. The dissolution of sand clod diminishes the continent europe and the death of every single person diminishes humanity. Since every death is a loss for whole humankind, the church bell tolls for a funeral, it tolls as the death-knell for everyone as each human dies with the death of other human to some extent. He says that no matter for whom the funeral bell is tolling, the death diminishes him everytime. He then says that this is the reason he never enquires for whom the death-knell is toling as he realizes that it is tolling for him. Donne then explains that his meditation is not to raise misery and worries. He suggests that each death is a treasure as a man with reasonable mind and ears can learn a lot from each death and improve his own life spiritually. Donne suggests that affliction is a treasure as it allows a man to grow and mature. He suggests that we as human inherit knowledge and wisdom from the sufferings of other humans. In a way, he refers to the writings of Augustine of Hippo (On Christian Doctrine) in which Augustine described the knowledge of Pagans as gold and silver. Augustine suggested that Christians should no renounce all wonderful knowledge of Pagans, rather they should make better use of the achievements of Pagans. Donne extrapolates this idea and suggests that death of any person is a treasure for anyone who can learn from his life, deeds and mistakes. The two phrases. ‘No Man is an Island,’ and ‘For Whome the Bell Tolls,’ became highly popular. Earnest Hemmingway published his novel For Whome the Bell Tolls in 1940 whose title was inspired by Meditation 17. Hemingway quoted the first part of the second paragraph of Meditation XVII in the epigraph of his novel. So this is it for today. We have covered all major works of John Donne. We will conclude this playlist by discussing the other minor works of John Donne in the next video. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and regards!
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