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Who really said it

For whom the bell tolls

Written by John Donne 1572–1631 · English poet & cleric, later Dean of St Paul’s
Verified Free to reuse

The line is genuinely Donne’s, from the prose “Meditation XVII” of his Devotions upon Emergent Occasions (written 1623, published 1624): “…never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee.” The exact phrase appears verbatim — it is not a later paraphrase.

Last verified 16 Jul 2026 · how we verify · spot an error?

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“For whom the bell tolls” John Donne, "Meditation XVII," Devotions upon Emergent Occasions (1624)

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Provenance

The source

Work
Devotions upon Emergent Occasions, “Meditation XVII”
Written / Published
December 1623; first published 1624
Form
Devotional prose (not a poem, though often reprinted as verse)
Latin heading
“Nunc lento sonitu dicunt, Morieris” — “Now this bell, tolling softly for another, says to me: Thou must die”

No man is an Iland, intire of it selfe; every man is a peece of the Continent, a part of the maine… any mans death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankinde; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee. Meditation XVII, 1624

Shown in Donne’s original 1624 spelling — the same text Hemingway used as his epigraph. Modernised editions render it “No man is an island… for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.”

Full text of Meditation XVII at Luminarium

How we verified this

  • The complete Meditation XVII, containing “never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee,” is preserved at Luminarium.
  • Devotions upon Emergent Occasions was written in December 1623 and published in 1624; Meditation XVII is its most famous section.
  • Ernest Hemingway’s 1940 novel For Whom the Bell Tolls took its title and epigraph directly from this passage, quoting Donne in his original spelling.
  • The full 1624 work is public domain and freely readable at Project Gutenberg.
Public domain

Devotions upon Emergent Occasions was first published in 1624 — centuries before the 1931 U.S. public-domain threshold — so both Donne’s original-spelling text and standard modernised renderings of it are firmly in the public domain. Project Gutenberg hosts the full text as public domain in the USA.

This reflects the original work, which is public domain. If your exact English wording comes from a specific modern translation, that translation may itself still be under copyright — check the edition you quote.

Fact-check

Often misattributed

The line is authentically Donne’s — but because of how most people first meet it, credit often lands elsewhere.

Ernest Hemingway popular confusion

Hemingway’s 1940 novel For Whom the Bell Tolls took both its title and epigraph straight from Donne’s Meditation XVII. Because the novel is so famous, many assume Hemingway coined the phrase — he explicitly did not, and printed Donne’s words as his epigraph.

“A poem by John Donne” wrong form

The line is frequently presented as a Donne poem, but “Meditation XVII” is devotional prose from the Devotions upon Emergent Occasions. Modern anthologies sometimes re-break it into verse lines, which fuels the confusion.

The attribution to Donne is correct: the exact wording appears in his 1624 Meditation XVII. Hemingway only borrowed it.

Context

Why it mattered

Donne wrote the Devotions in December 1623 as he was recovering from a near-fatal illness — probably relapsing fever or typhus. Each of its 23 sections tracks a single day of his sickness through a meditation, an expostulation, and a prayer.

Meditation XVII begins as Donne hears a church bell tolling for a dying neighbour and reflects that the bell may as well be tolling for him — because all people are bound together. The passage turns a memento-mori image into one of the great statements of human interconnectedness.

“Any mans death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankinde.”

Explore

Filed under

More provenance-checked quotes on the same theme, each with its reuse status.

Mortality

Go further

Dig deeper

Trusted places to keep pulling the thread — primary archives, fact-checks, and scholarship. We show how we used each one before you leave.

Meditation XVII (full text)luminarium.org

The complete Meditation XVII, including the famous passage in full context.
Devotions upon Emergent Occasionsen.wikipedia.org

Background on the 1624 work, its structure, and Meditation XVII’s famous phrases.
Devotions (full text, public domain)gutenberg.org

Free public-domain e-text of Donne’s complete Devotions.
For Whom the Bell Tolls (novel)en.wikipedia.org

Hemingway’s 1940 novel, whose title and epigraph come from Donne.
John Donnepoetryfoundation.org

Biography and works of John Donne (1572–1631).
“For whom the bell tolls” — meaning & originphrases.org.uk

Phrase-origin reference tracing the line to Donne’s 1624 Meditation XVII.

The author

About John Donne

John Donne

1572–1631 · English metaphysical poet & cleric, Dean of St Paul's Cathedral

John Donne (1572–1631) was the leading English metaphysical poet, known for the intellectual wit of works like “The Flea” and the “Holy Sonnets.” After a turbulent early life he took orders in the Church of England and became Dean of St Paul’s in 1621. He wrote the Devotions upon Emergent Occasions in December 1623 while gravely ill, and its Meditation XVII — “No man is an island… for whom the bell tolls” — became his most quoted prose.

For writers & researchers

Cite this

Primary source — Chicago

John Donne, “Meditation XVII,” in Devotions upon Emergent Occasions (London, 1624).

MLA (9th ed.)

Donne, John. “Meditation XVII.” Devotions upon Emergent Occasions, London, 1624.

APA (7th ed.)

Donne, J. (1624). Devotions upon emergent occasions.

This verification page

Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘For whom the bell tolls’?” Last verified 16 Jul 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/for-whom-the-bell-tolls

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