| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Poems by T. S. Eliot: Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons,
I have measured out my life with coffee spoons;
I know the voices dying with a dying fall
Beneath the music from a farther room.
So how should I presume?
And I have known the eyes already, known them all--
The eyes that fix you in a formulated phrase,
And when I am formulated, sprawling on a pin,
When I am pinned and wriggling on the wall,
Then how should I begin
To spit out all the butt-ends of my days and ways?
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis: fifty times he looked at the picture of the Court of Honor.
He was startled to find Zilla in the room. She wore a black streaky gown
which she had tried to brighten with a girdle of crimson ribbon. The ribbon
had been torn and patiently mended. He noted this carefully, because he did
not wish to look at her shoulders. One shoulder was lower than the other; one
arm she carried in contorted fashion, as though it were paralyzed; and behind
a high collar of cheap lace there was a gouge in the anemic neck which had
once been shining and softly plump.
"Yes?" she said.
"Well, well, old Zilla! By golly, it's good to see you again!"
"He can send his messages through a lawyer."
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Almayer's Folly by Joseph Conrad: The Dutch warship is to the northward watching the main entrance.
I shall send Dain off to-night in a canoe, by the hidden
channels, on board the prau. His father is a great prince, and
shall hear of our generosity. Let the prau take him to Ampanam.
Your glory shall be great, and your reward in powerful
friendship. Almayer will no doubt deliver the dead body as
Dain's to the officers, and the foolish white men shall say,
'This is very good; let there be peace.' And the trouble shall be
removed from your heart, Rajah."
"True! true!" said Lakamba.
"And, this being accomplished by me who am your slave, you shall
Almayer's Folly |
