| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Tono Bungay by H. G. Wells: whether that period was a failure at all, when I become
defensively critical of those exacting courses I did not follow,
the encyclopaedic process of scientific exhaustion from which I
was distracted. My mind was not inactive, even if it fed on
forbidden food. I did not learn what my professors and
demonstrators had resolved I should learn, but I learnt many
things. My mind learnt to swing wide and to swing by itself.
After all, those other fellows who took high places in the
College examinations and were the professor's model boys haven't
done so amazingly. Some are professors themselves, some
technical experts; not one can show things done such as I,
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Aeroplanes and Dirigibles of War by Frederick A. Talbot: days of the war, the British airships, though small and slow in
movement, proved more serviceable for this duty than their
dynamic consorts. This result was probably due to the fact that
military strategy and tactics were somewhat nonplussed by the
appearance of this new factor. At the time it was an entirely
unknown quantity. It is true that aircraft had been employed in
the Balkan and the Italo-Ottoman campaigns, but upon such a
limited scale as to afford no comprehensive idea of their
military value and possibilities.
The belligerents, therefore, were caught somewhat at a
disadvantage, and an appreciable period of time elapsed before
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Prufrock/Other Observations by T. S. Eliot: But though I have wept and fasted, wept and prayed,
Though I have seen my head (grown slightly bald) brought in upon a platter,
I am no prophet--and here’s no great matter;
I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker,
And I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coat, and snicker,
And in short, I was afraid.
And would it have been worth it, after all,
After the cups, the marmalade, the tea,
Among the porcelain, among some talk of you and me,
Would it have been worth while,
To have bitten off the matter with a smile,
Prufrock/Other Observations |
