| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Shadow Line by Joseph Conrad: And after this effort he fell back exhausted on
his bed. He closed his eyes, he panted; this affair,
this abominable surprise had shaken him up, too.
As I turned away I perceived Ransome looking at
me blankly. He appreciated what it meant, but
managed to produce his pleasant, wistful smile.
Then he stepped back into his pantry, and I rushed
up on deck again to see whether there was any
wind, any breath under the sky, any stir of the air,
any sign of hope. The deadly stillness met me
again. Nothing was changed except that there
The Shadow Line |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte: was certainly the most conspicuous, and, I think, the most devoted
among them all. And that detestable - ahem - and Sir Thomas chose
to take offence at him - or my profuse expenditure, or something -
I don't exactly know what - and hurried me down to the country at a
moment's notice; where I'm to play the hermit, I suppose, for
life.'
And she bit her lip, and frowned vindictively upon the fair domain
she had once so coveted to call her own.
'And Mr. Hatfield,' said I, 'what is become of him?'
Again she brightened up, and answered gaily - 'Oh! he made up to an
elderly spinster, and married her, not long since; weighing her
Agnes Grey |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Research Magnificent by H. G. Wells: ethical problems, already a little worn, made her seem at times
anything but respectable. He had met her first one evening at Jimmy
Gluckstein's when he was forming his opinion of Art. Her manifest
want of interest in pictures had attracted him. And that had led to
music. And to the mention of a Clementi piano, that short, gentle,
sad, old, little sort of piano people will insist upon calling a
spinet, in her flat.
And so to this. . . .
It was very wonderful and delicious, this first indulgence of sense.
It was shabby and underhand.
The great god Pan is a glorious god. (And so was Swinburne.) And
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