| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from My Antonia by Willa Cather: took possession of their comfortable houses and ate the eggs
and puppies. We felt sorry for the owls. It was always
mournful to see them come flying home at sunset and disappear
under the earth. But, after all, we felt, winged things
who would live like that must be rather degraded creatures.
The dog-town was a long way from any pond or creek.
Otto Fuchs said he had seen populous dog-towns in the desert
where there was no surface water for fifty miles; he insisted
that some of the holes must go down to water--nearly two
hundred feet, hereabouts. Antonia said she didn't believe it;
that the dogs probably lapped up the dew in the early morning,
My Antonia |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Mother by Owen Wister: of complaint she uttered in my presence during that whole dreary month."
"We were spending Sunday with a house party at Hyde Park; and driving to
church, we passed an avenue gate with a lodge. 'Rockhurst, sir,' said the
coachman. 'Whose place?' I inquired. 'The old Beverly place, sir.' Ethel
heard him tell me this; and as we went on, we saw a carriage and pair
coming down the avenue toward the gate with that look which horses always
seem to have when they are taking the family to church on Sunday morning."
"'If I see her,' said Ethel to me as we entered the door, 'I shall be
unable to say my prayers.'"
"But only young people came into the Beverly pew, and Ethel said her
prayers and also sang the hymn and chants very sweetly."
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Man against the Sky by Edwin Arlington Robinson: He's not enormous, but one looks at him.
A little on the round if you insist,
For now, God save the mark, he's growing old;
He's five and forty, and to hear him talk
These days you'd call him eighty; then you'd add
More years to that. He's old enough to be
The father of a world, and so he is.
"Ben, you're a scholar, what's the time of day?"
Says he; and there shines out of him again
An aged light that has no age or station --
The mystery that's his -- a mischievous
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