Sunday, October 30, 2011

For Whom the Bell Tolls

Bell for Sale

After taking this picture, I had a vague thought "for whom the bell tolls". Later realized what had struck me was the memory of the title of an old novel by Ernest Hemingway. Trying to look it up, I found the title was taken from John Donne's Meditation 17 Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions and came across these beautiful lines.

No man is an island,
Entire of itself.
Each 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 thine own
Or of thine friend's were.
Each man's death diminishes me,
For I am involved in mankind.
Therefore, send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee.

26 comments:

  1. Remo, that is a stunning photo of the bells. I would call that type of photography "bokeh" where the background is deliberately blurred in order to make the subject stand out more clearly. You need to be very talented and have a good camera to do it well. It looks to me like you have mastered the art of bokeh. :)

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  2. Thank you Vee. I love taking pictures and keep learning on the way.

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  3. Very nice photo Ramakant, I'm also like you, still in the learning process but isn't that what life's all about? Have a wonderful week!

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  4. so lovely and beautiful!

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  5. Ramakant, your photo is just wonderful, but what I really like is your finding the quotation, which comes to us (via Hemingway) from John Donne, which just happens to be one of my favorites.

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  6. rama, amazing photograph and i loved the colors :)

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  7. @Drachma
    Yes, I am also glad I found it. It became an instant favourite.

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  8. @Ashwini
    Thanks for appreciating the shot.

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  9. Thanks Chintan. I am lucky to be shooting in India where colours are aplenty.

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  10. Thanks Viji. Hope you get back to blogging soon.

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  11. Love the picture and the lines are so pure and beautiful!


    http://www.meghasarin.blogspot.com

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  12. The lines are really beautiful. Thanks for stopping by.

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  13. Hi!

    Vee recommended I stop by, and I'm glad I did, your photos are stunning! And thanks for the accompanying poem, I don't think I'd ever read the full thing before! It's beautiful and makes a good companion for your photo. :o)

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  14. Welcome to my blog Cris!! Glad that you liked my blog. I myself had never read the full poem before researching for the phrase.

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  15. Very Striking, Ramakanth! Awesome!
    The title is simply superb for it reminded me of my Eng Prof. It was one of his favs.

    Thanks for your visit and wonderful comment.
    Regards
    Deepa
    http://www.deepazworld.blogspot.com/

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  16. Hope its happy memories. Thanks for visiting.

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  17. I love that you picked a good poem to go with this photo. I like bells :)

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  18. I love this picture of the bell. It's so warm and festive! I've been trying out my own festive shots since getting a new lens for Christmas - if you get a spare moment check it out! http://im-not-a-morning-person.blogspot.com/

    I hope you had a good Christmas, and have a happy New Year!

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Tryst with the Shutter Bug by Ramakant Pradhan is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.