| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Edingburgh Picturesque Notes by Robert Louis Stevenson: moral considerations a youthful poet would supply. But
the incident, in a fanciful sort of way, is
characteristic of the place. Into no other city does the
sight of the country enter so far; if you do not meet a
butterfly, you shall certainly catch a glimpse of far-
away trees upon your walk; and the place is full of
theatre tricks in the way of scenery. You peep under an
arch, you descend stairs that look as if they would land
you in a cellar, you turn to the back-window of a grimy
tenement in a lane:- and behold! you are face-to-face
with distant and bright prospects. You turn a corner,
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Secrets of the Princesse de Cadignan by Honore de Balzac: "He is an adorable child, just out of swaddling-clothes! This time,
like all other times, it will only be a triumph without a struggle."
"Well, it is disappointing," said Madame d'Espard. "But we might evade
it."
"How?"
"Let me be your rival."
"Just as you please," replied the princess. "I've decided on my
course. Genius is a condition of the brain; I don't know what the
heart gets out of it; we'll talk about that later."
Hearing the last few words, which were wholly incomprehensible to her,
Madame d'Espard returned to the general conversation, showing neither
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Kreutzer Sonata by Leo Tolstoy: pitiable; their expression seemed strange, like that of another
being than himself; his moustache and beard turned up toward the
top of his face; his nose was diminished, and his mouth enlarged,
immense, frightful.
"Yes," he resumed "she had grown stouter since ceasing to
conceive, and her anxieties about her children began to
disappear. Not even to disappear. One would have said that she
was waking from a long intoxication, that on coming to herself
she had perceived the entire universe with its joys, a whole
world in which she had not learned to live, and which she did not
understand.
The Kreutzer Sonata |
