| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Professor by Charlotte Bronte: Difficulty;" that he should not even marry a beautiful girl or a
lady of rank. As Adam's son he should share Adam's doom, and
drain throughout life a mixed and moderate cup of enjoyment.
In the sequel, however, I find that publishers in general
scarcely approved of this system, but would have liked something
more imaginative and poetical--something more consonant with a
highly wrought fancy, with a taste for pathos, with sentiments
more tender, elevated, unworldly. Indeed, until an author has
tried to dispose of a manuscript of this kind, he can never know
what stores of romance and sensibility lie hidden in breasts he
would not have suspected of casketing such treasures. Men in
The Professor |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Cratylus by Plato: CRATYLUS: You are right, Socrates, in saying that I have made a study of
these matters, and I might possibly convert you into a disciple. But I
fear that the opposite is more probable, and I already find myself moved to
say to you what Achilles in the 'Prayers' says to Ajax,--
'Illustrious Ajax, son of Telamon, lord of the people,
You appear to have spoken in all things much to my mind.'
And you, Socrates, appear to me to be an oracle, and to give answers much
to my mind, whether you are inspired by Euthyphro, or whether some Muse may
have long been an inhabitant of your breast, unconsciously to yourself.
SOCRATES: Excellent Cratylus, I have long been wondering at my own wisdom;
I cannot trust myself. And I think that I ought to stop and ask myself
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Lady Susan by Jane Austen: have some hunting together. He means to send for his horses immediately,
and it is impossible to say when you may see him in Kent. I will not
disguise my sentiments on this change from you, my dear mother, though I
think you had better not communicate them to my father, whose excessive
anxiety about Reginald would subject him to an alarm which might seriously
affect his health and spirits. Lady Susan has certainly contrived, in the
space of a fortnight, to make my brother like her. In short, I am persuaded
that his continuing here beyond the time originally fixed for his return is
occasioned as much by a degree of fascination towards her, as by the wish
of hunting with Mr. Vernon, and of course I cannot receive that pleasure
from the length of his visit which my brother's company would otherwise
Lady Susan |
