| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift: miles in circumference) to the extremities of the globe; monarch
of all monarchs, taller than the sons of men; whose feet press
down to the centre, and whose head strikes against the sun; at
whose nod the princes of the earth shake their knees; pleasant as
the spring, comfortable as the summer, fruitful as autumn,
dreadful as winter: his most sublime majesty proposes to the
man-mountain, lately arrived at our celestial dominions, the
following articles, which, by a solemn oath, he shall be obliged
to perform:--
"1st, The man-mountain shall not depart from our dominions,
without our license under our great seal.
Gulliver's Travels |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Elixir of Life by Honore de Balzac: being under a dying man's pillow. "Listen, my son," he went on,
in a voice grown weak with that last effort, "I have no more wish
to give up life than you to give up wine and mistresses, horses
and hounds, and hawks and gold----"
"I can well believe it," thought the son; and he knelt down by
the bed and kissed Bartolommeo's cold hands. "But, father, my
dear father," he added aloud, "we must submit to the will of
God."
"I am God!" muttered the dying man.
"Do not blaspheme!" cried the other, as he saw the menacing
expression on his father's face. "Beware what you say; you have
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy: to call at the inn, as was sometimes his custom on these long
autumn nights; and he sat sipping grog alone downstairs.
About ten o'clock there was a knock at the door.
When the servant opened it the rays of the candle fell
upon the form of Fairway.
"I was a-forced to go to Lower Mistover tonight,"
he said, "and Mr. Yeobright asked me to leave this here
on my way; but, faith, I put it in the lining of my hat,
and thought no more about it till I got back and was
hasping my gate before going to bed. So I have run back
with it at once."
Return of the Native |
