| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table by Oliver Wendell Holmes: ticket of admission to the Institution for Idiots and Feeble-minded
Youth? One doesn't like to be cruel, - and yet one hates to lie.
Therefore one softens down the ugly central fact of donkeyism, -
recommends study of good models, - that writing verse should be an
incidental occupation only, not interfering with the hoe, the
needle, the lapstone, or the ledger, - and, above all that there
should be no hurry in printing what is written. Not the least use
in all this. The poetaster who has tasted type is done for. He is
like the man who has once been a candidate for the Presidency. He
feeds on the madder of his delusion all his days, and his very
bones grow red with the glow of his foolish fancy. One of these
The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy: old friend, was staying with him at the village aforesaid,
and had, indeed, suggested the day's trip to Christminster.
"What are you thinking of?" said Gillingham, as they went home.
"The university degree you never obtained?"
"No, no," said Phillotson gruffly. "Of somebody I saw to-day."
In a moment he added, "Susanna."
"I saw her, too."
"You said nothing."
"I didn't wish to draw your attention to her. But, as you did see her,
you should have said: 'How d'ye do, my dear-that-was?'"
"Ah, well. I might have. But what do you think of this: I have
Jude the Obscure |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Within the Tides by Joseph Conrad: when Davidson, who had been pearling himself in his youth, had been
associating with Harry the Pearler and others, the quietest of a
rather rowdy set.
"Before Davidson retraced his steps to go on board the steamer, he
had heard much of Laughing Anne's story, and had even had an
interview, on the path, with Bamtz himself. She ran back to the
hut to fetch him, and he came out lounging, with his hands in his
pockets, with the detached, casual manner under which he concealed
his propensity to cringe. Ya-a-as-as. He thought he would settle
here permanently - with her. This with a nod at Laughing Anne, who
stood by, a haggard, tragically anxious figure, her black hair
Within the Tides |
