| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The American by Henry James: in which he included knowing how to die; but, as Newman reflected,
with a good deal of dumb irritation, he seemed disposed to delegate
to others the application of his learning on this latter point.
M. de Grosjoyaux was of quite another complexion, and appeared to regard
his friend's theological unction as the sign of an inaccessibly
superior mind. He was evidently doing his utmost, with a kind
of jovial tenderness, to make life agreeable to Valentin to the last,
and help him as little as possible to miss the Boulevard des Italiens;
but what chiefly occupied his mind was the mystery of a bungling
brewer's son making so neat a shot. He himself could snuff a candle,
etc., and yet he confessed that he could not have done better than this.
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from King James Bible: PSA 89:39 Thou hast made void the covenant of thy servant: thou hast
profaned his crown by casting it to the ground.
PSA 89:40 Thou hast broken down all his hedges; thou hast brought his
strong holds to ruin.
PSA 89:41 All that pass by the way spoil him: he is a reproach to his
neighbours.
PSA 89:42 Thou hast set up the right hand of his adversaries; thou hast
made all his enemies to rejoice.
PSA 89:43 Thou hast also turned the edge of his sword, and hast not
made him to stand in the battle.
PSA 89:44 Thou hast made his glory to cease, and cast his throne down
King James Bible |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Waste Land by T. S. Eliot: and the two sexes meet in Tiresias. What Tiresias sees, in fact,
is the substance of the poem. The whole passage from Ovid is
of great anthropological interest:
. . . Cum Iunone iocos et 'maior vestra profecto est
Quam, quae contingit maribus', dixisse, 'voluptas.'
Illa negat; placuit quae sit sententia docti
Quaerere Tiresiae: venus huic erat utraque nota.
Nam duo magnorum viridi coeuntia silva
Corpora serpentum baculi violaverat ictu
Deque viro factus, mirabile, femina septem
Egerat autumnos; octavo rursus eosdem
The Waste Land |
