| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde: could not help wondering at the calm of his demeanour, and for a moment
felt keenly the terrible pleasure of a double life.
It was a small party, got up rather in a hurry by Lady Narborough,
who was a very clever woman with what Lord Henry used to describe
as the remains of really remarkable ugliness. She had proved
an excellent wife to one of our most tedious ambassadors, and having
buried her husband properly in a marble mausoleum, which she
had herself designed, and married off her daughters to some rich,
rather elderly men, she devoted herself now to the pleasures
of French fiction, French cookery, and French esprit when she could
get it.
The Picture of Dorian Gray |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy: There was humility in her grief, no defiance in her attitude;
and when this is the case a shaken spirit is apt to
be stilled.
Could Thomasin's mournfulness now and Eustacia's serenity during
life have been reduced to common measure, they would have
touched the same mark nearly. But Thomasin's former brightness
made shadow of that which in a sombre atmosphere was light itself.
The spring came and calmed her; the summer came and soothed her;
the autumn arrived, and she began to be comforted,
for her little girl was strong and happy, growing in size
and knowledge every day. Outward events flattered Thomasin
Return of the Native |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte: passing her, to my surprise, instead of returning the salute with a
stiff, ungracious bow, she accosted him with one of her sweetest
smiles, and, walking by his side, began to talk to him with all
imaginable cheerfulness and affability; and so we proceeded all
three together.
After a short pause in the conversation, Mr. Weston made some
remark addressed particularly to me, as referring to something we
had been talking of before; but before I could answer, Miss Murray
replied to the observation and enlarged upon it: he rejoined; and,
from thence to the close of the interview, she engrossed him
entirely to herself. It might be partly owing to my own stupidity,
Agnes Grey |
