For Whom the Bell Tolls

In his library deep in the night, the poet heard the tolling of the passing bell. He sent out his errand boy to see for whom the bell tolled. A moment later he changed his mind and called the boy back. He then started to write a poem, now known as "For Whom the Bell Tolls".

 

"No man is an island, entire of itself," begins the poem, and goes on to say that when a small clod of soil is washed away by the sea, the continent has lost a part of itself. He tells us through touching words that, therefore, the bell tolls not only for the deceased, but for all those alive.

 

tr. by Orun Kim & Mauro Cho

 

늦은 밤 서재에 앉아있던 시인이 누군가의 죽음을 알리는 조종(弔鐘)소리를 듣게 됩니다. 그는 사동을 불러 누가 죽었는가를 알아보도록 하였습니다. 그러고 나서 잠시 후 다시 그를 불러 누가 죽었는지를 알아볼 필요가 없음을 알리고 쓰기 시작한 것이 바로 그의 유명한 <누구를 위하여 종은 울리나>라는 시였습니다.

 

‘세상의 어느 누구도 외딴섬이 아니다’라는 구절로 시작되는 그의 시는 한 줌의 흙이 파도에 씻겨가면 그만큼 대륙의 상실임을 이야기하고 있습니다. 그러기에 저 조종소리는 단지 죽은사람을 위한 종소리가 아니라 살아 있는 모든 사람을 위한 종소리임을 감동적인 시어로 깨우쳐주고 있습니다.

 

<더불어숲> 신영복, 돌베게

「전사자 계곡의 십자가 - 물어볼 필요가 없습니다. 누구를 위하여 종이 울리는지」 중에서