| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from King Lear by William Shakespeare: Either in snuffs and packings of the Dukes,
Or the hard rein which both of them have borne
Against the old kind King, or something deeper,
Whereof, perchance, these are but furnishings-
But, true it is, from France there comes a power
Into this scattered kingdom, who already,
Wise in our negligence, have secret feet
In some of our best ports and are at point
To show their open banner. Now to you:
If on my credit you dare build so far
To make your speed to Dover, you shall find
King Lear |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Waste Land by T. S. Eliot: 401. 'Datta, dayadhvam, damyata' (Give, sympathize,
control). The fable of the meaning of the Thunder is found
in the _Brihadaranyaka--Upanishad_, 5, 1. A translation is found
in Deussen's _Sechzig Upanishads des Veda_, p. 489.
407. Cf. Webster, _The White Devil_, v. vi:
. . . they'll remarry
Ere the worm pierce your winding-sheet, ere the spider
Make a thin curtain for your epitaphs.
411. Cf. INFERNO, xxxiii. 46:
ed io sentii chiavar l'uscio di sotto
all'orribile torre.
The Waste Land |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Some Reminiscences by Joseph Conrad: he was in his cretonne pyjamas and the thin cotton singlet,
remained on board, lingering near the gangway as though he could
not make up his mind whether to go home or stay with us for good.
Our Chinamen boys gave him side glances as they went to and fro;
and Ah Sing, our young chief steward, the handsomest and most
sympathetic of Chinamen, catching my eye, nodded knowingly at his
burly back. In the course of the morning I approached him for a
moment.
"Well, Mr. Almayer," I addressed him easily, "you haven't started
on your letters yet."
We had brought him his mail and he had held the bundle in his
Some Reminiscences |
