AuntShecky
09-11-2008, 12:55 PM
This week's snore-fest concerns opening lines from various works of literature. Some openers are famous, others not so, most grab the reader's attention, just enough to keep him interested. See if you can guess
the titles and authors of the opening lines below. The answer could be from a play, a poem, a novel, or short story. (Some are easier than others, but I'm not deliberately trying to "stump" anyone. )
Ready? Let's, uh, "begin":
1. "On January 6, 1482, the people of Paris were awakened by the tumultuous clanging of all the bells in the city."
2. "I was getting along with Mama, Papa-Daddy, and Uncle-Rondo until my sister Stella-Rondo just separated from her husband and came back home again."
3. "The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge."
4. "No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man's and yet as mortal as his own."
5. "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of home, it was the winter of despair. . ."
6. "It looked like a good thing: but wait till I tell you. We were down South, in Alabama-- Bill Driscoll and myself -- when the kidnapping idea struck us."
7. "That is no country for old men. . ."
8. "For Godsake hold your tongue and let me love."
9. "It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must in want of a wife."
10. "I sing of arms and the man. . ."
11. "Call me Ishmael."
12. "If music be the food of love, play on."
13. "I got another barber that comes over from Carterville and helps me out Saturdays, but the rest of the time I can get along all right alone. You can see for yourself that this ain't no New York: City and besides that, the most of the boys works all day and don't have no leisure to drop in here and get themselves prettied up."
14. {A tough one! Here's a hint: it's the opening dialogue of Act 1, Scene 1 of one of the greatest American plays of the twentieth century.}
"Make it fast. Don't want de boss to get wise when he's got one of his tightwad buns on."
Answers
1. The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Victor Hugo
2. "Why I Live at the P.O.," Eudora Welty
3. "The Cask of Amontillado," Edgar Allan Poe
4. The War of the Worlds, H.G. Wells
5. A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
6. "The Ransom of Red Chief," O. Henry
7. "Sailing to Byzantium," W. B. Yeats
8. "The Canonization," John Donne
9. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
10. The Aeneid, Virgil
11. Moby Dick, Herman Melville
12. Twelfth Night, William Shakespeare
13. "Haircut," Ring Lardner
14. The Iceman Cometh, Eugene O'Neill
the titles and authors of the opening lines below. The answer could be from a play, a poem, a novel, or short story. (Some are easier than others, but I'm not deliberately trying to "stump" anyone. )
Ready? Let's, uh, "begin":
1. "On January 6, 1482, the people of Paris were awakened by the tumultuous clanging of all the bells in the city."
2. "I was getting along with Mama, Papa-Daddy, and Uncle-Rondo until my sister Stella-Rondo just separated from her husband and came back home again."
3. "The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge."
4. "No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man's and yet as mortal as his own."
5. "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of home, it was the winter of despair. . ."
6. "It looked like a good thing: but wait till I tell you. We were down South, in Alabama-- Bill Driscoll and myself -- when the kidnapping idea struck us."
7. "That is no country for old men. . ."
8. "For Godsake hold your tongue and let me love."
9. "It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must in want of a wife."
10. "I sing of arms and the man. . ."
11. "Call me Ishmael."
12. "If music be the food of love, play on."
13. "I got another barber that comes over from Carterville and helps me out Saturdays, but the rest of the time I can get along all right alone. You can see for yourself that this ain't no New York: City and besides that, the most of the boys works all day and don't have no leisure to drop in here and get themselves prettied up."
14. {A tough one! Here's a hint: it's the opening dialogue of Act 1, Scene 1 of one of the greatest American plays of the twentieth century.}
"Make it fast. Don't want de boss to get wise when he's got one of his tightwad buns on."
Answers
1. The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Victor Hugo
2. "Why I Live at the P.O.," Eudora Welty
3. "The Cask of Amontillado," Edgar Allan Poe
4. The War of the Worlds, H.G. Wells
5. A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
6. "The Ransom of Red Chief," O. Henry
7. "Sailing to Byzantium," W. B. Yeats
8. "The Canonization," John Donne
9. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
10. The Aeneid, Virgil
11. Moby Dick, Herman Melville
12. Twelfth Night, William Shakespeare
13. "Haircut," Ring Lardner
14. The Iceman Cometh, Eugene O'Neill