opening line "It was a dark and stormy night"
E939736
The opening line "It was a dark and stormy night" is a famously overwrought sentence from Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s novel *Paul Clifford*, often cited as an example of florid prose and widely parodied in popular culture.
Observed surface forms (1)
| Surface form | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| "It was a dark and stormy night" | 0 |
Statements (46)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
catchphrase
ⓘ
literary quotation ⓘ opening line ⓘ |
| appearsIn | Paul Clifford NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| associatedPeriod | early 19th century ⓘ |
| associatedWith | Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| author | Edward Bulwer-Lytton NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| criticalReception |
considered a cliché
ⓘ
often mocked ⓘ |
| culturalStatus |
widely parodied
ⓘ
widely referenced in popular culture ⓘ |
| describedAs |
florid prose
ⓘ
overwrought ⓘ |
| firstPublicationYear | 1830 ⓘ |
| firstPublishedIn | Paul Clifford NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| genreContext | Victorian popular fiction ⓘ |
| hasForm | simple declarative sentence ⓘ |
| hasReputation | one of the most famous bad openings in literature ⓘ |
| hasSubject |
atmosphere
ⓘ
weather ⓘ |
| hasWeatherDescription |
dark
ⓘ
stormy ⓘ |
| influenced | later parody openings in fiction ⓘ |
| inspired | Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| language | English ⓘ |
| memorability | highly recognizable ⓘ |
| narrativeFunction |
atmospheric description
ⓘ
scene-setting ⓘ |
| notableUse | opening sentence written by Snoopy in Peanuts ⓘ |
| openingOf | Paul Clifford NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| parodiedBy | Charles M. Schulz NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| parodiedIn | Peanuts NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| quotationLength | 7 words ⓘ |
| quotationType | literary cliché ⓘ |
| regionOfOrigin | United Kingdom NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| studiedIn |
creative writing pedagogy
ⓘ
discussions of style in English literature ⓘ |
| teaches | pitfalls of excessive description ⓘ |
| timeSetting | night ⓘ |
| tone | melodramatic ⓘ |
| usedAs |
cliché opening
ⓘ
example of bad writing ⓘ example of purple prose ⓘ |
| usedIn |
collections of famous first lines
ⓘ
humorous writing guides ⓘ |
| workType | novel opening ⓘ |
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.