| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Myths and Myth-Makers by John Fiske: entitled to a reverential hearing on almost any point
connected with Greek antiquity. Nevertheless it seems to me
that his theory rests solely upon imagined difficulties which
have no real existence. I doubt if any scholar, reading the
Iliad ever so much, would ever be struck by these alleged
inconsistencies of structure, unless they were suggested by
some a priori theory. And I fear that the Wolfian theory, in
spite of Mr. Grote's emphatic rejection of it, is responsible
for some of these over-refined criticisms. Even as it stands,
the Iliad is not an account of the war against Troy. It begins
in the tenth year of the siege, and it does not continue to
Myths and Myth-Makers |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Adam Bede by George Eliot: study, where Mr. Irwine soon joined him.
"Well, Bartle?" said Mr. Irwine, putting out his hand. That was
not his usual way of saluting the schoolmaster, but trouble makes
us treat all who feel with us very much alike. "Sit down."
"You know what I'm come about as well as I do, sir, I daresay,"
said Bartle.
"You wish to know the truth about the sad news that has reached
you...about Hetty Sorrel?"
"Nay, sir, what I wish to know is about Adam Bede. I understand
you left him at Stoniton, and I beg the favour of you to tell me
what's the state of the poor lad's mind, and what he means to do.
Adam Bede |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Europeans by Henry James: in his cheek and half-a-dozen rain-drops glistening on his mustache.
"Ah, you have a fire," he said.
"Les beaux jours sont passes," replied the Baroness.
"Never, never! They have only begun," Felix declared, planting himself before
the hearth. He turned his back to the fire, placed his hands behind him,
extended his legs and looked away through the window with an expression
of face which seemed to denote the perception of rose-color even in the tints
of a wet Sunday.
His sister, from her chair, looked up at him, watching him;
and what she saw in his face was not grateful to her present mood.
She was puzzled by many things, but her brother's disposition was a frequent
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