| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Intentions by Oscar Wilde: so and will always do so. But while the poet can be pictorial or
not, as he chooses, the painter must be pictorial always. For a
painter is limited, not to what he sees in nature, but to what upon
canvas may be seen.
And so, my dear Ernest, pictures of this kind will not really
fascinate the critic. He will turn from them to such works as make
him brood and dream and fancy, to works that possess the subtle
quality of suggestion, and seem to tell one that even from them
there is an escape into a wider world. It is sometimes said that
the tragedy of an artist's life is that he cannot realise his
ideal. But the true tragedy that dogs the steps of most artists is
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Lair of the White Worm by Bram Stoker: landing in the old country, a welcome and a surrounding in full
harmony with all his dreams throughout his wanderings and solitude,
and the promise of a fresh and adventurous life. It was not long
before the old man accepted him to full relationship by calling him
by his Christian name. After a long talk on affairs of interest,
they retired to the cabin, which the elder was to share. Richard
Salton put his hands affectionately on the boy's shoulders--though
Adam was in his twenty-seventh year, he was a boy, and always would
be, to his grand-uncle.
"I am so glad to find you as you are, my dear boy--just such a young
man as I had always hoped for as a son, in the days when I still had
Lair of the White Worm |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from A Start in Life by Honore de Balzac: Serizy from the Arabs?" said Reybert, "and for whom the count has
obtained the collectorship of Beaumont while awaiting that of
Pontoise?"
"Yes, monsieur," said Oscar.
"I hope you will give me the pleasure, monsieur," said the great
painter, "of being present at my marriage at Isle-Adam."
"Whom do you marry?" asked Oscar, after accepting the invitation.
"Mademoiselle Leger," replied Joseph Bridau, "the granddaughter of
Monsieur de Reybert. Monsieur le comte was kind enough to arrange the
marriage for me. As an artist I owe him a great deal, and he wished,
before his death, to secure my future, about which I did not think,
|
