Question: "Ask not for whom the bell tolls" is a popular cliche. My understanding is that it comes from John Donne's Meditation XVII ([1623](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Meditation_XVII)). But in Donne's poem, the line is

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> any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore **never send to know** for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
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So where did "ask not" come from? Is it a common mistake (or deliberate modernization) or is there another source for this quote?

[![Ask not for whom the dog barks doormat](https://i.stack.imgur.com/XEwbU.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/XEwbU.jpg)

Answer: 
W.J. Rayment on indepth info.com does a good job explaining...
"People of that time were understandably agitated when they heard the funeral bell toll. At the time people lived by the bells in the church steeple. To hear funeral bells was the equivalent today of broaching the obituaries in the newspaper. It is interesting to note that Donne tells his reader to "never send to ask...". For modern readers this will seem a curious phrase. Yet at the time, modern communication systems did not exist. Anyone with wealth had servants to provide the conveniences that today are provided by machines in most technological societies. Thus Donne is speaking to the wealthy person saying, don't send your servant to find out who is dead."

So today it would be more like saying "When you see/hear that there is a terrorist attack, don't google "who were the victims of the terrorist attack?", because we are all connected and therefore all victims of the terrorist attack (terrorist attack in this example)." The important part isn't who died - but that a piece of humanity died.

I think the proper way to structure phrases using this quote would be ... don't ask "for whom the bell tolls", since the "don't ask" isn't part of the quote - just part of the way people tend to use the quote.
The English form consisting of a verb (bare form) followed by **not** is a common literary device.

Here is a charming explanation of it in a book called :
\*\*The Mother Tongue: an elementary English grammar by
George Lyman Kittredge, ‎Sarah Louise Arnold · 1908 · ‎English language
[The Mother Tongue](https://archive.org/stream/mothertongue02arno/mothertongue02arno_djvu.txt)

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> 501. In poetry and the solemn style prohibition is often expressed by the simple imperative, followed by not .
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> *Look not* upon the wine when it is red.
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> *Speak not*, but go.
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> *Judge not* , that ye be not judged.
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Apart from those Bible citations by those authors, Shakespeare uses this form but it is a pain to search for it:

*Timon of Athens*
[I, 1]

I thank you; you shall hear from me anon:
**Go not away**. What have you there, my friend?

*Romeo and Juliet*

LADY CAPULET  

**Talk not** to me, for I’ll not speak a word.
Do as thou wilt, for I have done with thee.
Exit. (3.5.196-203)

[See more examples from Shakespeare site](https://www.opensourceshakespeare.org/search/search-results.php)

So, "ask not" [for whom the bell tolls] comes from a poetic usage of an imperative followed by not.

And William Wordsworth used "ask not for whom":

Ask not for whom, O Champions true!  

She was reserved by me her life's betrayer;  

She who was meant to be a bride  

Is now a corpse: then put aside  

Vain thoughts, and speed ye, with observance due  

Of Christian rites, in Christian ground to lay her." (1835)

[The Egyptian Maid](https://d.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/text/wordsworth-the-egyptian-maid)

I do not know who first said "Ask not for whom the bell tolls", but it is not a misquotation, but rather a poetic usage in keeping with English attested to by The Bard.