| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Kenilworth by Walter Scott: wish her--a lusty, noble, and gallant husband."
"Thou ravest, Varney," answered Leicester. "Besides, our times
have seen enough to make men loathe the Crown Matrimonial which
men take from their wives' lap. There was Darnley of Scotland."
"He!" said Varney; "a, gull, a fool, a thrice-sodden ass, who
suffered himself to be fired off into the air like a rocket on a
rejoicing day. Had Mary had the hap to have wedded the noble
Earl ONCE destined to share her throne, she had experienced a
husband of different metal; and her husband had found in her a
wife as complying and loving as the mate of the meanest squire
who follows the hounds a-horseback, and holds her husband's
Kenilworth |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from La Grande Breteche by Honore de Balzac: plants we call weeds have clothed the bank with their beautiful
luxuriance. The fruit-trees, neglected for these ten years past, no
longer bear a crop, and their suckers have formed a thicket. The
espaliers are like a copse. The paths, once graveled, are overgrown
with purslane; but, to be accurate there is no trace of a path.
"Looking down from the hilltop, to which cling the ruins of the old
castle of the Dukes of Vendome, the only spot whence the eye can see
into this enclosure, we think that at a time, difficult now to
determine, this spot of earth must have been the joy of some country
gentleman devoted to roses and tulips, in a word, to horticulture, but
above all a lover of choice fruit. An arbor is visible, or rather the
La Grande Breteche |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Rivers to the Sea by Sara Teasdale: Had borne a child, dreaming of days to come,
Wonder if it would please its father's eyes.
But long before I ever heard your name,
Always the undertone's unchanging note
RIVERS TO THE SEA
In all my singing had prefigured you,
Foretold you as a spark foretells a flame.
Yet I was free as an untethered cloud
In the great space between the sky and sea,
And might have blown before the wind of joy
Like a bright banner woven by the sun.
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