| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Gorgias by Plato: ministers to the weaker side of human nature (Republic); he idealizes the
sensual; he sings the strain of love in the latest fashion; instead of
raising men above themselves he brings them back to the 'tyranny of the
many masters,' from which all his life long a good man has been praying to
be delivered. And often, forgetful of measure and order, he will express
not that which is truest, but that which is strongest. Instead of a great
and nobly-executed subject, perfect in every part, some fancy of a heated
brain is worked out with the strangest incongruity. He is not the master
of his words, but his words--perhaps borrowed from another--the faded
reflection of some French or German or Italian writer, have the better of
him. Though we are not going to banish the poets, how can we suppose that
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Tono Bungay by H. G. Wells: orientations. We have never broken with our tradition, never
even symbolically hewed it to pieces, as the French did in
quivering fact in the Terror. But all the organizing ideas have
slackened, the old habitual bonds have relaxed or altogether
come undone. And America too, is, as it were, a detached,
outlying part of that estate which has expanded in queer ways.
George Washington, Esquire, was of the gentlefolk, and he came
near being a King. It was Plutarch, you know, and nothing
intrinsically American that prevented George Washington being a
King....
IV
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Verses 1889-1896 by Rudyard Kipling: Yes, the Large Birds o' Prey
They will carry us away,
An' you'll never see your soldiers any more!
"SOLDIER AN' SAILOR TOO"
Verses 1889-1896 |
