I’m planning to do a project on “No Man is an Island” from John Donne. I think his writing is very relevant to the modern age. His “for whom the bells toll” line has been used by so many authors, movies, and musicians. It’s message stands as a stark contrast to the values of today, and the author reminds us that every life has physical and spiritual value. This got me thinking about how ironic the title of Ernest Hemingway’s famous book For Whom the Bell Tolls is, as the first modern wars devalued and wiped off more human life than in any other period.
My problem with this writing is it wasn’t originally designed to be a poem, although it has poetic elements. Also, I chose it primarily with the video in mind and I have no idea how I can write 5-7 pages worth of information on it. John Donne wrote many poems that may leave more to say.
For the digital component I want to do time lapses of the cars, trains, or people. I have always wanted to do time lapses. I want to somehow compare cars moving on the highways to sand on a beach being taken away and put back by the ocean. This would show the main analogy in the poem: that no person is an island but is instead part of a larger continent.
I don’t know how difficult time lapses are to do and if I have the resources I will need to make one of decent quality. There are technical challenges like recording a single scene for an hour or more. How will I steady the camera for such a long time? Will there be enough space on the recorder?
