Good opening sentence!

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Sybarite

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They don't write like this anymore:

Of Man's first disobedience, and the fruit
Of that forbidden tree whose mortal taste
Brought death into the World, and all our woe,
With loss of Eden, till one greater Man
Restore us, and regain the blissful seat,
Sing, Heavenly Muse, that, on the secret top
Of Oreb, or of Sinai, didst inspire
That shepherd who first taught the chosen seed
In the beginning how the heavens and earth
Rose out of Chaos: or, if Sion hill
Delight thee more, and Siloa's brook that flowed
Fast by the oracle of God, I thence
Invoke thy aid to my adventurous song,
That with no middle flight intends to soar
Above th' Aonian mount, while it pursues
Things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme.

Paradise Lost Milton

You have to get to the 6th line before you get to the principal verb.
 
Sybarite said:
They don't write like this anymore:

Of Man's first disobedience, and the fruit
Of that forbidden tree whose mortal taste
Brought death into the World, and all our woe,
With loss of Eden, till one greater Man
Restore us, and regain the blissful seat,
Sing, Heavenly Muse, that, on the secret top
Of Oreb, or of Sinai, didst inspire
That shepherd who first taught the chosen seed
In the beginning how the heavens and earth
Rose out of Chaos: or, if Sion hill
Delight thee more, and Siloa's brook that flowed
Fast by the oracle of God, I thence
Invoke thy aid to my adventurous song,
That with no middle flight intends to soar
Above th' Aonian mount, while it pursues
Things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme.

Paradise Lost Milton

You have to get to the 6th line before you get to the principal verb.
Click to expand...
Must be the best writing I've read on this forum :)

Surely one of the best known opening lines in the English language
 
Interesting use of capitals. Not sure my English teacher would agree with the total lack of full stops. :D

I never use milton, horrid stuff.
 
Camelia said:
Interesting use of capitals. Not sure my English teacher would agree with the total lack of full stops. :D

I never use milton, horrid stuff.
Click to expand...
Really - I thought it was pretty much standard convention in English to have just one full stop per sentence - and to put that at the end as Milton does :)
 
it's strange that Parry cut loose with his incomparable harmonies on Blest Pair of Sirens, but never felt tempted to take on the meatier passage quoted.

Just how do you add music to that ?
 
Mr. Baker, chief mate of the ship Narcissus, stepped in one stride out of his lighted cabin into the darkness of the quarter-deck. Above his head, on the break of the poop, the night-watchman rang a double stroke. It was nine o'clock. Mr. Baker, speaking up to the man above him, asked:—"Are all the hands aboard, Knowles?"
The man limped down the ladder, then said reflectively:—
"I think so, sir. All our old chaps are there, and a lot of new men has come.... They must be all there."
"Tell the boatswain to send all hands aft," went on Mr. Baker; "and tell one of the youngsters to bring a good lamp here. I want to muster our crowd."

from 'The ****** of the Narcissus' by Joseph Conrad
 
parsifal said:
Mr. Baker, chief mate of the ship Narcissus, stepped in one stride out of his lighted cabin into the darkness of the quarter-deck. Above his head, on the break of the poop, the night-watchman rang a double stroke. It was nine o'clock. Mr. Baker, speaking up to the man above him, asked:—"Are all the hands aboard, Knowles?"
The man limped down the ladder, then said reflectively:—
"I think so, sir. All our old chaps are there, and a lot of new men has come.... They must be all there."
"Tell the boatswain to send all hands aft," went on Mr. Baker; "and tell one of the youngsters to bring a good lamp here. I want to muster our crowd."

from 'The ****** of the Narcissus' by Joseph Conrad
Click to expand...

Great command of English by a Pole born in the Ukraine who learnt sailing in France!
 
Sybarite said:
They don't write like this anymore:

Of Man's first disobedience, and the fruit
Of that forbidden tree whose mortal taste
Brought death into the World, and all our woe,
With loss of Eden, till one greater Man
Restore us, and regain the blissful seat,
Sing, Heavenly Muse, that, on the secret top
Of Oreb, or of Sinai, didst inspire
That shepherd who first taught the chosen seed
In the beginning how the heavens and earth
Rose out of Chaos: or, if Sion hill
Delight thee more, and Siloa's brook that flowed
Fast by the oracle of God, I thence
Invoke thy aid to my adventurous song,
That with no middle flight intends to soar
Above th' Aonian mount, while it pursues
Things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme.

Paradise Lost Milton

You have to get to the 6th line before you get to the principal verb.
Click to expand...

Good heavens! That 'little' piece brought two things to mind! The first was the word 'verbose' and the second was a little rhyme I haven't heard since my schooldays:

There once was a chap from Japan,
Whose limericks just wouldn't scan.
When asked to explain,
He said 'It's a pain,
But you see I have this curious compulsion to pad out the last line by fitting in as many words as I possibly can!!'
 
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