The human species is not an island, entire of itself
By Roberta
[Wednesday, May 09, 2007]
I have a habit of relating the essay "No man is an Island" by John Donne (1572 - 1631) to nature and man's interaction with nature. In the final exam I give to my environmental science students, I often make his essay the subject of one of the exam's questions. This year I edited poor John's essay to replace "man" with "species", "me" with "us", "mankind" with "nature", etc. (square brackets in the essay below enclose replaced words/phrases). I left out a bit of the essay that wasn't quite as much to the point that I was trying to convey. John Donne might roll over in his grave, but this usually gets my students thinking more deeply than they have felt before about the precarious position humans are in.
What does John Donne's essay mean in terms of the extinction of species?
"No [Species] is an Island" (updated):
No [species] is an island, entire of itself; every [species] is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less...any [Species’] death diminishes [the human species], because [we are] involved in [Nature]...
Perchance [the species] for whom this bell tolls, may be so [endangered], as that [they] know not it tolls for [them]; and perchance [we] may think [us] so much better than [we are], as that [the other species] who are about [us]...may have caused it to toll for [us]...and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
"No Man is an Island" (original):
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...any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind...
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...may have caused it to toll for me...and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
What does John Donne's essay mean in terms of the extinction of species?
"No [Species] is an Island" (updated):
No [species] is an island, entire of itself; every [species] is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less...any [Species’] death diminishes [the human species], because [we are] involved in [Nature]...
Perchance [the species] for whom this bell tolls, may be so [endangered], as that [they] know not it tolls for [them]; and perchance [we] may think [us] so much better than [we are], as that [the other species] who are about [us]...may have caused it to toll for [us]...and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
"No Man is an Island" (original):
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...any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind...
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...may have caused it to toll for me...and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
0 comments:
NOTICE: Comments are user generated feedback and do not represent the views and/or opinions of EnvironmentalChemistry.com.
Post a Comment
NOTICE: Comments with profanity (mild or explicit) or are otherwise offensive will NOT be posted. Self promotion spam also doesn't get posted.