Some lines from An Anatomy of the World by John Donne

Have you ever read or studied about John Donne, an English poet of the 17th century? 

Following is an excerpt of four lines from one of his poems, called An Anatomy of the World.

How can it be understood in plain English? 

Prince, subject, father, son, are things forgot,

For every man alone thinks he hath got

To be a phoenix, and that then can be

None of that kind, of which he is, but he.

The poem's orginal form is really long with a long breath. Reading it again with some more lines before  and after the above lines looks like below. 

...

And new philosophy calls all in doubt,

The element of fire is quite put out,

The sun is lost, and th'earth, and no man's wit

Can well direct him where to look for it.

And freely men confess that this world's spent,

When in the planets and the firmament

They seek so many new; they see that this

Is crumbled out again to his atomies.

'Tis all in pieces, all coherence gone,

All just supply, and all relation;

Prince, subject, father, son, are things forgot,

For every man alone thinks he hath got

To be a phoenix, and that then can be

None of that kind, of which he is, but he.

This is the world's condition now, and now

She that should all parts to reunion bow,

She that had all magnetic force alone,

To draw, and fasten sund'red parts in one;

...

And followings are some sources found on the Internet. 

Albert

***

• A poem of John Donne: An Anatomy of the World
• An account of John Donn's “An Anatomy of the World"
• Book Review: Every Man Alone, A Phoenix
  
• The Priestly Donne
• What sparks intellectual movements?