| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Lady Susan by Jane Austen: dear sister, you will excuse my remaining silent so long, and agree with me
that such circumstances, while they continue from any cause in suspense,
cannot be too cautiously concealed. When you have the happiness of
bestowing your sweet little Catherine, some years hence, on a man who in
connection and character is alike unexceptionable, you will know what I
feel now; though, thank Heaven, you cannot have all my reasons for
rejoicing in such an event. Catherine will be amply provided for, and not,
like my Frederica, indebted to a fortunate establishment for the comforts
of life." She concluded by demanding my congratulations. I gave them
somewhat awkwardly, I believe; for, in fact, the sudden disclosure of so
important a matter took from me the power of speaking with any clearness,
Lady Susan |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Bucolics by Virgil: How all that is from these beginnings grew,
And the young world itself took solid shape,
Then 'gan its crust to harden, and in the deep
Shut Nereus off, and mould the forms of things
Little by little; and how the earth amazed
Beheld the new sun shining, and the showers
Fall, as the clouds soared higher, what time the woods
'Gan first to rise, and living things to roam
Scattered among the hills that knew them not.
Then sang he of the stones by Pyrrha cast,
Of Saturn's reign, and of Prometheus' theft,
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy: In Brunn everybody attached to the court was packing up, and the
heavy baggage was already being dispatched to Olmutz. Near Hetzelsdorf
Prince Andrew struck the high road along which the Russian army was
moving with great haste and in the greatest disorder. The road was
so obstructed with carts that it was impossible to get by in a
carriage. Prince Andrew took a horse and a Cossack from a Cossack
commander, and hungry and weary, making his way past the baggage
wagons, rode in search of the commander in chief and of his own
luggage. Very sinister reports of the position of the army reached him
as he went along, and the appearance of the troops in their disorderly
flight confirmed these rumors.
War and Peace |
