| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Unseen World and Other Essays by John Fiske: the Oriental mind--is, Who was to blame? To what culpable
negligence was it due that such a dire calamity was not foreseen,
and at least partially warded off? We shall find reason to
believe that it could not have been adequately foreseen, and that
no legislative measures could in that state of society have
entirely prevented it. Yet it will appear that the government,
with the best of intentions, did all in its power to make matters
worse; and that to its blundering ignorance the distress which
followed is largely due.
The first duty incumbent upon the government in a case like that
of the failure of the winter rice-crop of 1769, was to do away
The Unseen World and Other Essays |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from In a German Pension by Katherine Mansfield: And he felt a fool at the same moment for not saying "servant."
Doctor Erb was not perturbed. He shook his head, thrust his hands into his
pockets, and began balancing himself on toe and heel.
"You're jagged by the weather," he said wryly, "nothing else. A great
pity--this storm. You know climate has an immense effect upon birth. A
fine day perks a woman--gives her heart for her business. Good weather is
as necessary to a confinement as it is to a washing day. Not bad--that
last remark of mine--for a professional fossil, eh?"
Andreas made no reply.
"Well, I'll be getting back to my patient. Why don't you take a walk, and
clear your head? That's the idea for you."
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Prufrock/Other Observations by T. S. Eliot: The last twist of the knife.
Morning at the Window
They are rattling breakfast plates in basement kitchens,
And along the trampled edges of the street
I am aware of the damp souls of housemaids
Sprouting despondently at area gates.
The brown waves of fog toss up to me
Twisted faces from the bottom of the street,
And tear from a passer-by with muddy skirts
An aimless smile that hovers in the air
And vanishes along the level of the roofs.
Prufrock/Other Observations |
