| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Lady Susan by Jane Austen: explanation I trust I am in no danger of sinking in your opinion." I could
have said, "Not much, indeed!" but I left her almost in silence. It was
the greatest stretch of forbearance I could practise. I could not have
stopped myself had I begun. Her assurance! her deceit! but I will not allow
myself to dwell on them; they will strike you sufficiently. My heart
sickens within me. As soon as I was tolerably composed I returned to the
parlour. Sir James's carriage was at the door, and he, merry as usual, soon
afterwards took his leave. How easily does her ladyship encourage or
dismiss a lover! In spite of this release, Frederica still looks unhappy:
still fearful, perhaps, of her mother's anger; and though dreading my
brother's departure, jealous, it may be, of his staying. I see how closely
Lady Susan |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Lesson of the Master by Henry James: the author of "Shadowmere" noticed him. At all events he didn't
come over though Miss Fancourt did as soon as she saw him - she
almost rushed at him, smiling rustling radiant beautiful. He had
forgotten what her head, what her face offered to the sight; she
was in white, there were gold figures on her dress and her hair was
a casque of gold. He saw in a single moment that she was happy,
happy with an aggressive splendour. But she wouldn't speak to him
of that, she would speak only of himself.
"I'm so delighted; my father told me. How kind of you to come!"
She struck him as so fresh and brave, while his eyes moved over
her, that he said to himself irresistibly: "Why to him, why not to
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Soul of Man by Oscar Wilde: the world's worship of pleasure, and whine against it. But it is
rarely in the world's history that its ideal has been one of joy
and beauty. The worship of pain has far more often dominated the
world. Mediaevalism, with its saints and martyrs, its love of
self-torture, its wild passion for wounding itself, its gashing
with knives, and its whipping with rods - Mediaevalism is real
Christianity, and the mediaeval Christ is the real Christ. When
the Renaissance dawned upon the world, and brought with it the new
ideals of the beauty of life and the joy of living, men could not
understand Christ. Even Art shows us that. The painters of the
Renaissance drew Christ as a little boy playing with another boy in
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