Tag Archives: Meditation 17

Will UK One Day “Rue” Brexit?

By Robin Bates | Published: December 18, 2019

With Brexit, Britain ignores Donne’s contention that “no man is an island.” Irish poet Ian Duhig has a smart poem about the coming withdrawal.

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Donne vs. Brexit: No Nation Is an Island

By Robin Bates | Published: June 6, 2016

Donne’s “no man is an island” essay–Meditation 17–can be read as a commentary on the inadvisability of a British exit from the European Union (Brexit).

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In Memory of Daniel Berrigan

By Robin Bates | Published: May 2, 2016

Daniel Berrigan, Jesuit activist and poet, died this past Saturday. His “A Dark Word” is a fitting way to note his passing.

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No Man Is an Island (Not Even Revis)

By Robin Bates | Published: October 19, 2011

New York Jet Darrelle Revis may be single man island who can shut down any receiver who comes near, but ultimately he must acknowledge, like John Donne, that no man is an island.

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The Tolling Bell Says You’re Not Alone

By Robin Bates | Published: January 15, 2010

I talked yesterday about the poet being like one blundering around in the dark, making utterances that some, in their suffering, find consoling.  The poet doesn’t know which poems will reach which readers.  To make another analogy, he or she is like Queequeg, carefully constructing a coffin that then, after he is dead and in […]

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