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Knell...Sound or Ring...

Personally, I would use tolls! Death bells, for me always toll. I think it's related to line from the John Donne poem: "Ask not for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee."
Because "knell" means the sound of a bell or the act of a bell's ringing, it's a bit redundant to say a knell "sounds or rings."
How about "toll"?

"The Curfew tolls the knell of parting day"

"Never send to know for whom the bell tolls. It tolls for thee."
Even though Donne uses toll in a poem about death, the difference between that word and knell is that the former is more general or versatile, and the latter is always a slow, deep and somber kind of ringing.

A death knell is also more immediate-- a bell can toll after natural disasters and fires, or for ships lost at sea.

Also, toll doesn't work as well as a noun, because "death toll" sounds like a list or accounting of the dead, after an epidemic, flood or other disaster. Or a battle, whether won or lost.

It wouldn't surprise me if toll used in this way didn't derive from language once specifically referring to bells-- but knell has engendered no secondary meanings, to my knowledge or recall.
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Very poetic using tolls!

Unfortunately, the past tense is needed, and it just doesn't sound right, because it loses the literary allusion, without which it just sounds obscure.

Yesterday, the curfew tolled the knell of parting day.
The death knell has tolled.

The death knell has told what?

Just my opinion, critique welcomed.

Edit: Slight change of mind. I would recommend that comsci use tolls, making sure, of course, that the present tense is good in context.
Thank you all for extra help. Here are some examples I've concluded. Please give comments shall you have anything to say. Yes, I believe that "toll the knell" sounds right too. I should have thought of it in the first place, yikes!

1. His decision sounds the death knell for all our hopes.(knell is used as a noun)
2. The surrender knelled the downfall of the tyrant.(used as a verb)

Please let me know if I have used the word "knell" in its appropriate meaning and suitable ways. Thanks again.

Am I "spot on" again? 👁 Smile :)
And I always thought "toll" as the fee/charge you pay on highways or as "death toll", rarely did I use it as a verb. Thanks for reminding me of its usage guys. 👁 Smile :)
By the way, how would I use "toll" and "knell" together to describe an atmosphere of dismay in a political scandal that's happening in my country? Or could I? I'd like to depict the downfall of a certain regime/political power. Comments are much appreciated.
This is always a problem with using such literary words. They are very powerful when you use them correctly. They are totally useless when you use them in the wrong way. These particular examples are not in current use in day-to-day speech. You have to make sure that there is enough context for the reader to recognise the special meaning.

In your examples, 1 is good. 2 is not good, because I don't believe that knell is recognisable as a verb (even though the dictionary tells me that it is a verb). It just sounds bad.

In general I think you have to try to keep to the structure of the few well known literary references.
ed800uk said:
In your examples, 1 is good. 2 is not good, because I don't believe that knell is recognisable as a verb (even though the dictionary tells me that it is a verb). It just sounds bad.
My sentiments exactly! Finally somebody else who argues with the dictionary.

A belated welcome to the forums, ed800uk!
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knell
v. knelled, knell·ing, knells
v. intr.
  1. To ring slowly and solemnly, especially for a funeral; toll.
  2. To give forth a mournful or ominous sound.
v. tr.
To signal, summon, or proclaim by tolling.

Above is a direct quote from an online dictionary. Any exceptions, if at all, that "knell" can be used and recognized as a verb? I'd be more than happy to know others' take on this. It's pretty hard for an English learner to defy what's offered in the dictionary as you all know. 👁 Smile :)
I need more information on the issue. Anybody? I don't mean to disrespect any of you in any way. I'm just being skeptical here.
The problem with lexicographers (those 'harmless drudges') is that, having their eyes buried in so much paper, they don't have their ears to their windows, to hear English as she is spoken. They append obsolete or archaic all to rarely. I don't know when the last churchbell was 'knelled' in Dublin. Funerals are silent affairs, campanologically speaking.
Yes Maxio, I got you. Yet don't ever forget that, quite sarcastically, a dictionary is always one source of information for learning or acquiring a new language that's foreign to one. Of course, you guys' comments are much precious too that provide existent and living definitions to the "obsolete" or "archaic" as in your words. Both of the sources(paper and living) are considered important and crucial to me. However, when the two sources clash, that's when one would be lost in the maze of language. It poses a dilemma for an English learner as to which of the two he or she ought to follow: lexicographers' take or people who use the language on daily basis. If you know what I mean...👁 Smile :)
Turn it around: Suppose I were learning Mandarin, and I gave you an example straight from a grammar or dictionary and asked if I could use it. You look at it and KNOW that no native speaker would use it, what would your advice to me be?

The only problem with the forums occurs when native speakers disagree! Then, you've got a dilemma! Otherwise, the choice, to me, seems clear.
Yes, Joelline, that's very true. Still, I'd hesitate to challenge something like an Oxford Dict or W-M or Gage, would you not? Even if I'm 100% positive about the term, I'd be forced to collect a second opinion with other native speakers of that language before I'd give an advice to that particular question. If still in doubt, maybe I'd have to challenge my own knowledge and go to a higher source(maybe a linguistics prof or someone with more credential) I think there's nothing wrong being skeptical in any form of knowledge/language acquisition. By all means, I don't mean that I don't trust your instinct(or many of you) on the usage of the word "knell" in this particular case.
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