The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Intentions by Oscar Wilde: cedar. Upon ivory and rose-coloured terracotta he painted with
wax, making the wax fluid with juice of olives, and with heated
irons making it firm. Panel and marble and linen canvas became
wonderful as his brush swept across them; and life seeing her own
image, was still, and dared not speak. All life, indeed, was his,
from the merchants seated in the market-place to the cloaked
shepherd lying on the hill; from the nymph hidden in the laurels
and the faun that pipes at noon, to the king whom, in long green-
curtained litter, slaves bore upon oil-bright shoulders, and fanned
with peacock fans. Men and women, with pleasure or sorrow in their
faces, passed before him. He watched them, and their secret became
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Ion by Plato: of inspiration.
The Ion, like the other earlier Platonic Dialogues, is a mixture of jest
and earnest, in which no definite result is obtained, but some Socratic or
Platonic truths are allowed dimly to appear.
The elements of a true theory of poetry are contained in the notion that
the poet is inspired. Genius is often said to be unconscious, or
spontaneous, or a gift of nature: that 'genius is akin to madness' is a
popular aphorism of modern times. The greatest strength is observed to
have an element of limitation. Sense or passion are too much for the 'dry
light' of intelligence which mingles with them and becomes discoloured by
them. Imagination is often at war with reason and fact. The concentration
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs: It would take away his title and his lands and his castles,
and--it would take them away from Jane Porter also.
"I say, old man," cried Clayton, "I haven't had a chance to
thank you for all you've done for us. It seems as though you
had your hands full saving our lives in Africa and here.
"I'm awfully glad you came on here. We must get better
acquainted. I often thought about you, you know, and the
remarkable circumstances of your environment.
"If it's any of my business, how the devil did you ever get
into that bally jungle?"
"I was born there," said Tarzan, quietly. "My mother was
Tarzan of the Apes |