| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne: grovelled helpless on the ground, even while his intellectual
faculties retained their pristine strength, or had perhaps
acquired a morbid energy, which disease only could have given
them. With her knowledge of a train of circumstances hidden from
all others, she could readily infer that, besides the legitimate
action of his own conscience, a terrible machinery had been
brought to bear, and was still operating, on Mr. Dimmesdale's
well-being and repose. Knowing what this poor fallen man had
once been, her whole soul was moved by the shuddering terror with
which he had appealed to her -- the outcast woman -- for support
against his instinctively discovered enemy. She decided,
The Scarlet Letter |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Expression of Emotion in Man and Animals by Charles Darwin: trembled to such a degree from delight, that he could not for
some time reload his gun; and I have heard of an exactly similar
case with an Australian savage, to whom a gun had been lent.
Fine music, from the vague emotions thus excited,
causes a shiver to run down the backs of some persons.
There seems to be very little in common in the above several
physical causes and emotions to account for trembling;
and Sir J. Paget, to whom I am indebted for several of the above
statements, informs me that the subject is a very obscure one.
As trembling is sometimes caused by rage, long before exhaustion
can have set in, and as it sometimes accompanies great joy,
Expression of Emotion in Man and Animals |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Dawn O'Hara, The Girl Who Laughed by Edna Ferber: upon the ground, blinking sleepily up at the sun and the
cobalt sky, feeling my very hair grow, and health
returning in warm, electric waves. I even dared to cross
one leg over the other and to swing the pendant member
with nonchalant air, first taking a cautious survey of
the neighboring back windows to see if any one peeked.
Doubtless they did, behind those ruffled curtains, but I
grew splendidly indifferent.
Even the crawling things--and there were myriads of
them--added to the enjoyment of my ease. With my ear so
close to the ground the grass seemed fairly to buzz with
|
