The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Egmont by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe: would! exchange it for the safety of a sepulchre. My blood rebels against
the Spanish mode of life, nor have I the least inclination to regulate my
movements by the new and cautious measures of the court. Do I live only
to think of life? Am I to forego the enjoyment of the present moment in
order to secure the next? And must that in its turn be consumed in
anxieties and idle fears?
Secretary. I entreat you, my lord, be not so harsh towards the venerable
man. You are wont to be friendly towards every one. Say a kindly word to
allay the anxiety of your noble friend. See how considerate he is, with
what delicacy he warns you.
Egmont. Yet he harps continually on the same string. He knows of old
 Egmont |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Ion by Plato: art; his great memory contrasts with his inability to follow the steps of
the argument. And in his highest moments of inspiration he has an eye to
his own gains.
The old quarrel between philosophy and poetry, which in the Republic leads
to their final separation, is already working in the mind of Plato, and is
embodied by him in the contrast between Socrates and Ion. Yet here, as in
the Republic, Socrates shows a sympathy with the poetic nature. Also, the
manner in which Ion is affected by his own recitations affords a lively
illustration of the power which, in the Republic, Socrates attributes to
dramatic performances over the mind of the performer. His allusion to his
embellishments of Homer, in which he declares himself to have surpassed
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The War in the Air by H. G. Wells: Above him was the light, translucent, billowing globe of shining
brown oiled silk and the blazing sunlight and the great deep blue
dome of the sky.
Below, far below, was a torn floor of sunlit cloud slashed by
enormous rents through which he saw the sea.
If you had been watching him from below, you would have seen his
head, a motionless little black knob, sticking out from the car
first of all for a long time on one side, and then vanishing to
reappear after a time at some other point.
He wasn't in the least degree uncomfortable nor afraid. He did
think that as this uncontrollable thing had thus rushed up the
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