Discover the most famous opening lines in English literature — from Chaucer and Shakespeare to Dickens, Austen, Orwell, and beyond. A quick reference guide for students, exam prep (UGC NET, UPSC, GPSC), and literature lovers.

Famous Opening Lines in English Literature | Classic First Lines from Novels, Plays & Poetry

✍️ Introduction

Opening lines are often the most memorable part of literature. They set the tone, capture the reader’s attention, and offer a glimpse into the themes of the work. From Chaucer’s medieval verses to Shakespeare’s poetic drama, from Jane Austen’s witty social commentary to George Orwell’s chilling dystopian vision, famous first lines have become timeless quotes studied across generations. Whether you are a student preparing for UGC NET, UPSC, or GPSC exams, or simply a literature enthusiast, exploring these iconic beginnings will deepen your understanding of style, history, and storytelling in English literature.

📖 Classic Novels

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…" – A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens (1859)
"Call me Ishmael." – Moby-Dick by Herman Melville (1851)
"All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." – Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (1877, in English translations)
"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife." – Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (1813)
"In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit." – The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien (1937)
"It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen." – 1984 by George Orwell (1949)
"The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there." – The Go-Between by L.P. Hartley (1953)
"Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself." – Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf (1925)
"You don’t know about me without you have read a book by the name of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer; but that ain’t no matter." – Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (1884)

📜 Famous Plays & Poetry

"Two households, both alike in dignity…" – Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
"If music be the food of love, play on." – Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare
"Whan that Aprille with his shoures soote…" – The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer (Middle English, 14th century)
"Let us go then, you and I, when the evening is spread out against the sky…" – The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T.S. Eliot (1915)
"Because I could not stop for Death – He kindly stopped for me…" – Emily Dickinson (poem, c. 1863)

🏰 Medieval & Renaissance

Geoffrey Chaucer – The Canterbury Tales (c. 1387)
“Whan that Aprille with his shoures soote…”
Edmund Spenser – The Faerie Queene (1590)
“A gentle knight was pricking on the plaine…”
William Shakespeare – Romeo and Juliet (1597)
“Two households, both alike in dignity…”
William Shakespeare – Twelfth Night (1601)
“If music be the food of love, play on.”
John Milton – Paradise Lost (1667)
“Of Man’s first disobedience, and the fruit / Of that forbidden tree…”

🖋️ Neoclassical / Enlightenment (18th century)

Jonathan Swift – A Tale of a Tub (1704)
“Whoever hath any expectations from a Preface…”
Henry Fielding – Tom Jones (1749)
“An author ought to consider himself, not as a gentleman who gives a private or eleemosynary treat…”
Laurence Sterne – Tristram Shandy (1759)
“I wish either my father or my mother, or indeed both of them… had minded what they were about when they begot me…”

🌹 Romantic Period (late 18th – early 19th century)

William Blake – Songs of Innocence (1789)
“Piping down the valleys wild…”
William Wordsworth – The Prelude (1805, 1850 full version)
“Oh there is blessing in this gentle breeze…”
Jane Austen – Pride and Prejudice (1813)
“It is a truth universally acknowledged…”
Mary Shelley – Frankenstein (1818)
“You will rejoice to hear that no disaster has accompanied the commencement of an enterprise…”
Charles Lamb – Essays of Elia (1823)
“I have been trying all my life to like Scotchmen…”

🎩 Victorian (19th century)

Charles Dickens – A Tale of Two Cities (1859)
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…”
Charlotte Brontë – Jane Eyre (1847)
“There was no possibility of taking a walk that day.”
George Eliot – Middlemarch (1871)
“Miss Brooke had that kind of beauty which seems to be thrown into relief by poor dress.”
Thomas Hardy – Tess of the d’Urbervilles (1891)
“On an evening in the latter part of May, a middle-aged man was walking homeward…”

🕰️ Modern (20th century)

James Joyce – A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916)
“Once upon a time and a very good time it was there was a moocow coming down along the road…”
Virginia Woolf – Mrs. Dalloway (1925)
“Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself.”
F. Scott Fitzgerald – The Great Gatsby (1925)
“In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice…”
George Orwell – 1984 (1949)
“It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.”
T.S. Eliot – The Waste Land (1922)
“April is the cruellest month, breeding / Lilacs out of the dead land…”

📚 Postmodern / Contemporary

J.R.R. Tolkien – The Hobbit (1937)
“In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.”
Gabriel García Márquez – One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967, English 1970)
“Many years later, as he faced the firing squad…”
Arundhati Roy – The God of Small Things (1997)
“May in Ayemenem is a hot, brooding month.”
Salman Rushdie – Midnight’s Children (1981)
“I was born in the city of Bombay… once upon a time.”

Conclusion

In English literature, the first line often sets the stage for the entire work — whether it is Chaucer’s “Whan that Aprille with his shoures soote”, Austen’s “It is a truth universally acknowledged”, or Orwell’s “It was a bright cold day in April…”. These powerful opening sentences capture the mood, theme, and imagination of readers across centuries. By revisiting these timeless beginnings, students and literature enthusiasts can not only appreciate the artistry of classic authors but also prepare effectively for competitive exams like UGC NET, UPSC, and GPSC. Famous opening lines are more than just introductions — they are history, style, and storytelling condensed into a few unforgettable words.

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