4 ms·
It's kinda amusing that this particular opening line is considered terrible in English literary tradition. I would argue that it's the rest of the sentence that
by Joker_vD 5y ago
It's kinda amusing that this particular opening line is considered terrible in English literary tradition. I would argue that it's the rest of the sentence that makes it a terrible opening — it keeps going on about the weather while most people presumably would rather start reading about the main character and his actions at this point already, — but the line as quoted is perfectly fine on its own.
- GuB-42 5y agoWell, I don't know many stormy nights that are not dark... I am not a writer but usually, the idea is to limit repetition, especially in the opening line.
- wdb 5y agoYes, but I think here they refer to not daylight. That's how I always read it :D
- Joker_vD 5y agoPlease notice that the line is not "It was a stormy and dark night". Or is "On a bright sunny morning, in downtown New York" also a bad opening?
- bluGill 5y agoI have seen several storms during the daytime which were not dark. Living in the north I've also seen nights that were not dark at all.
- bayouborne 5y agoI've been living out in the country for the last year and I can say that out here nights do have different qualities depending on the phase of the moon, etc.
- stordoff 5y agoYou're not wrong, but I get a different feeling from "dark and stormy" than just "[i]t was a stormy night". The former is almost foreboding, and maybe suggests a particularly long night - perhaps winter? I don't get that from the latter. You can convey the same feeling in a more effective way, but I don't think it's awful.
- kibwen 5y agoAgreed. "It was a dark and stormy night.", full stop, would be a perfectly cromulent opening sentence in its own right. It's punchy, fairly evocative, and it has excellent meter.