My World: For Whom The Bell Tolls...

" Perchance he for whom this bell tolls may be so ill, as that he knows not it tolls for him; and perchance I may think myself so much better than I am, as that they who are about me, and see my state, may have caused it to toll for me, and I know not that. "

No, the quote above is not from Hemingway.

I plead guilty because I had to look it up. I am not so versed in English literature. I would not have imagined that someone living in Tudor England would have independently developed a philosophy similar to eastern religions. But then, no man is an island.

Thank you Fahim, I learned something interesting today.

Cool shot.
Also, Donne a metaphysical poet was a Catholic that converted to the Anglican Church and preached many sermons. The next lines of that are

The church is catholic, universal, so are all her actions; all that she does, belongs to all. When she baptizes a child, that action concerns me; for that child is thereby connected to that head which is my head too, and ingraffed into that body, whereof I am a member. And when she buries a man, that action concerns me; 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 ...

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Even as he lay dying during Lent in 1631, he rose from his sickbed and delivered the Death's Duel sermon, which was later described as his own funeral sermon. Death's Duel portrays life as a steady descent to suffering and death, yet sees hope in salvation and immortality through an embrace of God, Christ and the Resurrection.[8][11][18]

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Donne
Don

fahim mohammed said:

" Perchance he for whom this bell tolls may be so ill, as that he knows not it tolls for him; and perchance I may think myself so much better than I am, as that they who are about me, and see my state, may have caused it to toll for me, and I know not that. "

No, the quote above is not from Hemingway.

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Now to your picture, Fahim!

The composition, (almost rust over monochrome), allows us to see shapes, textures and symbols lit from the side. It is impressive and "works" in engaging us and drawing us in. The poetry invites us into a world of contemplation about our role in time and place and the judgements we make as we try to follow a path, (of our making), in our life's journey. It could be, for example, that we have already gone astray and all our future meanderings will not allows us to get back to a path we should have reached by now.

Excellent way of allowing us to both enjoy a composition and to reflect on our exsitence.

Thanks again,

Asher

Hi Jerome.

Thanks for stopping by. I, too, am not well versed in literature ( English or other ) but have ben exposed to some when I was in England.

Mr. John Donne. How I was introduced to his works is an interesting story in itself.

More than 40 years ago, I happened to be based in Wiltshire. Imagine the prettiest of villages in England. Or market towns. You shall find them in Wiltshire. ( Think Agatha Christie's St.Mary Mead!! ).

Anyways, me and a few of my colleagues were doing work for a company here. We were temporarily lodging over a village pub ( Stag’s Head, Stag’s Inn or something like that !! ).

One of my closest friends was Andrew. He was a nerd, through and through. Sitting in the pub we got talking about literary works that were made into movies.

It was during that conversation that Hemingway’s work was mentioned. Andrew immediately asked us to stop and said something like..’ it tolls for thee ‘. Discussion ensued as to where this was mentioned.

Andrew, as usual, was tasked to find out ( no internet in those days!! ).

Sometime later he ( Andrew ) informed us about Mr. Donne.

Titling the image brought back memories for me. And of course, I remembered Mr. Donne; but not the quotation..which I had to look up.

Don ( ! ) thank you for providing some more detail re: Mr. Donne.

Edited: I had not read Asher's new thread. So better that I restrict myself to thanking Asher for his insight.

Thank you all for your kind and informative contributions.

fahim mohammed said:

" Perchance he for whom this bell tolls may be so ill, as that he knows not it tolls for him; and perchance I may think myself so much better than I am, as that they who are about me, and see my state, may have caused it to toll for me, and I know not that. "

No, the quote above is not from Hemingway.

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Well John Donne was a very fine Englsih poet, but from a family was a little detached from reality of what could happen to anyone who opposed the powers of the day. See this thread for discussion of the politics and mayhem that Donne seems oblivious of.

Bells are splendid instruments with a capability of sound calling to the faithful to prayer for miles around as well as being used to accompany prayers. I hope we can see more examples of these wonderful musical instruments!

Asher

Fahim, two excellent images !...
I like better the first one but they are both very nice. I do like the tones...