Poets and Philosophy-2

                                       POEMS  AND  POETS

                    21.Poets and Philosophy-2

All that we have been struggling to say, John Donne conveys so beautifully, as only a poet can.

John Donne: For Whom The Bell Tolls

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 if a manor of thy friends

Or of thine own were.

Any man's death diminishes me.

Because I am included in mankind.

And therefore never send to know for whom the bell                                                                       tolls

It tolls for thee.

Actually, these words come from a prose work. The church bell tolls for someone's funeral, but it reminds us of our own mortality. But it is also reminder of greater possibilities- of our immortality, if we know our true connections:

"if by this consideration of another's danger I take mine own into contemplation,and so secure myself by making my recourse  my God who is our only security."

If we know our connections to God who is the creator and the source, we also would know our connections to entire creation, not just humanity. So it gives a cosmic dimension to our existence. Let William Blake say it.

William Blake: Auguries of Innocence

To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a wild Flower ,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.

A Robin Red breast in a Cage
Puts all Heaven in a Rage.
A dove house filld with doves & Pigeons
Shudders Hell thro all its regions.

A dog starved at his Master's gate
Predicts the ruin of the State.
A Horse misused upon the Road
Calls to heaven for Human blood.

Each outcry of a hunted Hare
A fiber from the Brain does tear.
A sky lark wounded in the wing,
A Cherubim does cease to sing.

Kill not the Moth nor Butterfly
For the Last Judgment draweth nigh.
He who shall train the Horse to War
Shall never pass the Polar Bar.

A truth that's told with bad intent 
Beats all the Lies you can invent.
It is right it should be so;
Man was made for Joy& Woe.

And when this we rightly Know
Thro the World we safely go.
Joy & woe are woven fine
A clothing for the soul divine;
Under every grief  pine
Runs a joy with silken twine.

Every Tear from Every Eye
Becomes a babe in Eternity.

He who mocks the Infant's Faith
Shall be mocked in Age & Death.
he who shall teach the Child to Doubt
The rotting grave shall neer get out.

The Child's Toys & the Old Man's Reasons
Are the Fruits of the Two seasons.
The Questioner who sits so sly
Shall never Know how to Reply.

God Appears & God is Light
To those poor Souls who dwell in Night
But does a Human Form Display

To those who Dwell in Realms of day.

This is a long extract I have given, but the poem is still longer. Man has a role to serve the whole creation. The world is a mixed place: misra lokam, as we say in Sanskrit. Joy and woe are both here; we have to see our way through. Those scientists who have raised all sorts of questions about life and existence- have they given a single answer? Except perhaps, that they do dot know? What have they achieved in the end, by making man lose faith- in every thing?

I Rose Up At The Dawn of Day

Then if for Riches I must not Pray
God knows  I little of Prayers need say
So as a Church is known by its Steeple
If I pray it must be for other People.

Songs by Shepherds

Welcome stranger to this place,
Where joy doth sit on Every bough,
Paleness flies from every face,
We reap not, what we do not sow.
.......

When silver snow decks Sylvio's cloaths
And jewel hangs at shepherd's nose,
We can abide life's pelting storm
That makes our limbs quake,
                  if our hearts be warm.

Whilst virtue is our walking staff,
And truth a lantern to our path;
We can abide life's pelting storm
That makes our limbs quake,
                  if our hearts be warm.

Blow boisterous Wind, stern Winter frown,
Innocence is a winter's gown;
So clad, we'll abide life's pelting storm,
That makes our limbs quake,
                  if our hearts be warm.


It is important to remember that these poets do not paint a rosy picture of life in the world, as evangelists do. They do believe in a truth Higher than the visible world, only by the light of which we can perform our journey here. But this truth does not make suffering and woe disappear-  they are facts of existence. Winter and rough weather, as Shakespeare said but in a metaphorical sense; but they also give us tools, to keep our hearts suitably warm. Virtue, Truth, Innocence- and also the fact that what we sow, we will have to reap! This is a fine combination of true philosophy and practical wisdom- the USP of a genuine poet! Have you seen it, friends, in any high philosopher-old or new?