| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Lord Arthur Savile's Crime, etc. by Oscar Wilde: than "Mr. William Himself." Nor would he allow for a moment that
the Sonnets are mere satires on the work of Drayton and John Davies
of Hereford. To him, as indeed to me, they were poems of serious
and tragic import, wrung out of the bitterness of Shakespeare's
heart, and made sweet by the honey of his lips. Still less would
he admit that they were merely a philosophical allegory, and that
in them Shakespeare is addressing his Ideal Self, or Ideal Manhood,
or the Spirit of Beauty, or the Reason, or the Divine Logos, or the
Catholic Church. He felt, as indeed I think we all must feel, that
the Sonnets are addressed to an individual, - to a particular young
man whose personality for some reason seems to have filled the soul
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Lady Windermere's Fan by Oscar Wilde: not in worship, but in contempt. The hold I have over him -
LADY WINDERMERE. [Rising.] Ah! you admit you have a hold!
MRS. ERLYNNE. Yes, and I will tell you what it is. It is his love
for you, Lady Windermere.
LADY WINDERMERE. You expect me to believe that?
MRS. ERLYNNE. You must believe it! It is true. It is his love
for you that has made him submit to - oh! call it what you like,
tyranny, threats, anything you choose. But it is his love for you.
His desire to spare you - shame, yes, shame and disgrace.
LADY WINDERMERE. What do you mean? You are insolent! What have I
to do with you?
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Father Sergius by Leo Tolstoy: a position I am in. It all came about from our starting from
town for a sledge-drive, and my making a bet that I would walk
back by myself from the Vorobevka to the town. But then I lost
my way, and if I had not happened to come upon your cell . . .'
She began lying, but his face confused her so that she could not
continue, but became silent. She had not expected him to be at
all such as he was. He was not as handsome as she had imagined,
but was nevertheless beautiful in her eyes: his greyish hair and
beard, slightly curling, his fine, regular nose, and his eyes
like glowing coal when he looked at her, made a strong impression
on her.
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