Disclaimer: I did not just notice the first line because it was underlined.
Disclaimer 2: Really not sure what to do with/think about this story.
Maybe it is a cliché to put so much pressure on an opening line, and maybe at this point in my “writing career” I need to know if it really is as important as I’ve always been told. Maybe it’s not. This story pushes me to believe the latter, as I’m not really sure how the opening line ties into the story as a whole. I believe the following lines about poets are equally interesting: “It is the poet who is supposed to see things so clearly and remember. Perhaps it is only the poets who can die well.” This makes sense to me when I connect the beginning of the story to the end, where the narrator is reflecting on the fact that he can’t really create his wife’s image in his mind despite all the time they have spent together. I understand this connection, but as neither the narrator nor the grandfather can remember, I’m not sure why the author is making the poet connection. There is no one in the story to draw that line to.