No Man Is an Island

Donne’s poem opens with a negation, pointing out the distinctions between a “man” and an “island” (Line 1). The term “island” conjures the image of a separate piece of land, disconnected from any mainland, surrounded by deep waters. These first lines convey that “No man” can be so characterized, for “No man is an island” (Line 1). No man is “Entire of itself” (Line 2). If no single person is “entire” or whole of themself, as an island is entire of itself, then no single person can be considered whole on their own. They are incomplete. The speaker answers this opening negation with a redefinition of what a person indeed is. If “No man is an island,” then the opposite must be true: that “Every man” (Line 3), every individual person, is like “a piece of the continent” (Line 3), a single component of a larger entity. A person is in communion with the rest of humanity, filling an essential role in human existence. This concept is echoed in the following line. If a person is a part of the continent versus insular, then they are a “part of the main” (Line 4). Every single individual is part of the metaphorical mainland of humanity.