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About this quote

What does it mean?
Death is described as complex and inescapable, like a winding sheet.
In plain terms
Death is tangled and you cannot escape it.
What can you take from it?
Death is complex and unavoidable.

Where it applies

  • philosophical discussion
  • fear of death
  • existential crisis

Putting it to work

  • accept death
  • reflect on complexity
  • face mortality

Questions to consider

  • What makes death hard to accept?
  • How do you face the unknown?

Another view

The imagery may evoke fear rather than understanding.

More from John Donne

  1. I throw myself down in my chamber, and I call in and invite God and his angels thither, and when they are there, I neglect God and his angels, for the noise of…

    Permalink to quote #82
  2. Poor intricated soul! Riddling, perplexed, labyrinthical soul!

    Permalink to quote #84
  3. Now God comes to thee, not as in the dawning of the day, not as in the bud of the spring, but as the sun at noon to illustrate all shadows, as the sheaves in h…

    Permalink to quote #81

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