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bokononon t1_j8p2etw wrote

Reply to comment by Ferec in TIL that the phrase "It was a dark and stormy night" was the opening line to an actual novel published in 1830, but runs on for another 51 words: "It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents — except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which..." by dylancatlow

I suspect you've probably read Alexander Pope's similar lesson on writing :-) --

True ease in writing comes from art, not chance,
As those move easiest who have learned to dance.
'Tis not enough no harshness gives offense,
The sound must seem an echo to the sense:
Soft is the strain when Zephyr gently blows,
And the smooth stream in smoother numbers flows;
But when loud surges lash the sounding shore,
The hoarse, rough verse should like the torrent roar;
When Ajax strives some rock's vast weight to throw,
The line too labors, and the words move slow;
Not so, when swift Camilla scours the plain,
Flies o'er the unbending corn, and skims along the main.
Hear how Timotheus' varied lays surprise,
And bid alternate passions fall and rise!

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TheCloudFestival t1_j8qvn2o wrote

Ah, the joy of English's iambic pentameter.

Or as I used to say when I taught English as a foreign language 'English sounds like Tum-tee-Tum-tee-Tum-tee-Tum.'

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