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Literary theorist and columnist Stanley Fish has listed and described what he regards as the five greatest sentences ever composed in the English language. Among them is this selection from John Bunyan’s 1678 work The Pilgrim’s Progress. In my limited experience, I cannot think of any craftsman of the English language greater than Vladimir Nabokov, who wrote as though he was sculpting words from marble. And a selection from Nabokov is properly included in Fish’s follow-up post in which the professor judged from reader-submitted suggestions.
What do you think is the greatest sentence in the history of the English language?
Link (and a Follow-Up) | Screenshot: edited image from the first edition
It’s amazing what you can do with one little sentence. Just a few little words can make you wonder what the heck happened, like this one:
“When I opened the door I noticed 2 things: one, someone had made cookies, and two, all the furniture was missing, in that order.”
Some are very poignant, some are hysterical, and some are just plain weird. If you submit your own, be sure to let us know!
