The primary line of Charles Dickens’s 1859 novel A Story of Two Cities is quoted usually. Or at the least the primary half is (it’s a really lengthy sentence). However what does it really imply? Be a part of me as I placed on my official “I used to be an English main” T-shirt and get right down to some shut evaluation of the enduring A Story of Two Cities first line.
First, a refresher on what this primary paragraph really says:
It was the perfect of instances, it was the worst of instances, it was the age of knowledge, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of perception, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Mild, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had the whole lot earlier than us, we had nothing earlier than us, we had been all going direct to Heaven, we had been all going direct the opposite means—in brief, the interval was to date like the current interval, that a few of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being acquired, for good or for evil, within the superlative diploma of comparability solely.
Perhaps you’ve by no means learn A Story of Two Cities, however you might be in all probability accustomed to the phrase “it was the perfect of instances, it was the worst of instances,” as a result of it’s develop into a preferred idiom. Right here’s a fast abstract of the novel earlier than we get into that. Set across the time of the French Revolution, transferring between London and Paris, the novel follows a French physician who was imprisoned for years within the Bastille. When he’s launched, he strikes to England to be together with his daughter, Lucie—whom he’s by no means even met. Two completely different males fall in love with Lucie, and this triangle has long-lasting penalties as political intrigue spirals uncontrolled in France, resulting in a revolution that catches our characters in its grip.
Dickens and Historic Fiction
Like all Dickens novels, A Story of Two Cities explores the societal situations that result in collapse, immorality, and smash, and the people struggling in opposition to forces bigger than themselves. However A Story of Two Cities is one among his solely works of historic fiction, and that consciousness positively informs the novel’s first sentence. Trying again on a turbulent period of historical past, Dickens is conscious that all of us have a tendency to assert our present period is probably the most tough, probably the most unsettled, probably the most attention-grabbing. However, this sentence factors out, his modern Victorian readers aren’t the primary to suppose that means. Why, not so way back, within the 1780s, take a look at how folks considered the instances they lived in, this sentence appears to recommend. That is a method Dickens makes use of to create a parallel between his readers and these figures of the previous. On the finish of this very lengthy sentence, he even says it explicitly: “the interval was to date like the current interval” on this regard.
That’s one motive why this line holds up so effectively: each new era thinks their struggles are uniquely tough. Our present scenario is the proper instance. We live via what many name unprecedented instances—and with out minimizing our present circumstances, we are able to acknowledge that there have been pandemics earlier than, and wars earlier than, and political upheaval earlier than. It’s one factor to examine these occasions in historical past books, however whenever you’re residing via them, they’re, in fact, deeply unsettling and overwhelming, and naturally lead folks to declare we’re within the worst period in historical past.
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Shut Studying the A Story of Two Cities First Line
Now that now we have that background, let’s dig in a bit deeper. The A Story of Two Cities first paragraph makes use of a literary approach known as antithesis. In A Glossary of Literary Phrases, M.H. Abrams defines antithesis as “distinction or opposition within the meanings of contiguous phrases of clauses.” This can be a fancy means of claiming that in antithesis, phrases or phrases with reverse meanings are used intently collectively, normally with the identical common sentence construction, and are intentionally contrasted with one another.
Look again on the A Story of Two Cities first line. It’s all written in two very explicit patterns till the very finish: “It was the _____ of _____” and “We had ______” or “We had been _____.” This repetitive construction establishes that the phrases in every pair are equal. It’s not “It was the perfect of instances, however some folks stated it was the worst instances.” It’s each “finest” and “worst” directly, and so they have equal significance within the sentence.
These are assured, declarative sentences. However how can all these items be true directly? It will probably’t be each the perfect and worst of instances. This can be a frequent approach Dickens makes use of to ascertain humor: easy exaggeration. And on the finish of the paragraph, he means that there’s something about this period which makes folks focus on it in “superlative” phrases solely. Or, in his phrases: “a few of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being acquired, for good or for evil, within the superlative diploma of comparability solely.” By juxtaposing all of those reverse ideas, Dickens exhibits the absurdity of declaring that one explicit factor is true for a whole era. Working all of them collectively in a single lengthy sentence additional makes all of those concepts really feel just a bit bit excessive. The place does it finish? we’d suppose as we learn. As a result of the novel is historic fiction, and Dickens explicitly mentions the “current interval” on this paragraph, he’s additionally implying that it’s human nature to do that regardless of once we dwell, and it’s not distinctive to any explicit time interval.
From the title, and this opening sentence crammed with so many reverse pairs, we additionally get a way that this novel is preoccupied with duality. It’s a story of two cities, and as readers will quickly discover out, two males in love with Lucie and two characters who look very a lot alike.
Different Dickens First Traces
The A Story of Two Cities first line isn’t Dickens’s solely banger. There’s this basic opening to A Christmas Carol: “Marley was useless: to start with.” That’s adopted by a number of sentences about simply how useless Marley was, just like the writer is protesting a bit bit an excessive amount of (and naturally, Marley’s ghost quickly exhibits up, so he can’t have been that useless). The primary sentence of David Copperfield is equally well-known: “Whether or not I shall develop into the hero of my very own life, or whether or not that station will probably be held by anyone else, these pages should present.” No matter you consider Dickens as a author, he knew learn how to set up a temper instantly.
Allow us to finish by acknowledging that the outdated joke that Dickens was paid by the phrase has a bit little bit of reality to it. A lot of his novels had been first revealed as serialized installments in newspapers and magazines. Dickens positively mastered this methodology of publication by ending chapters on cliffhangers and crafting lengthy, meandering explorations of character. Studying was exploding in reputation throughout the Victorian period and Dickens was a grasp at giving his readers sufficient to fulfill them. So no, he wasn’t paid by the phrase, however we are able to examine 19th century serialized publication to how TV was: must-see episodes launched as soon as every week. And the variety of episodes we watched solely elevated our want to know what would occur subsequent.
Books like A Story of Two Cities could seem impenetrable to fashionable readers, however there’s actually loads right here we are able to relate to. Like Dickens’s characters, we’re residing via an occasion that can have long-lasting penalties. And even when that doesn’t draw you in, Dickens is an professional melodramatist. Come for the dissection of society’s ills, keep for the love triangles and dramatic deaths.
In search of extra evaluation of nice first strains? Try this put up on the primary line of Moby-Dick and this look at first of Anna Karenina. And should you simply need extra Dickens, right here’s an inventory of a few of his finest quotes.
