| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens: Lord Chancellor's in Great Ormond Street, in the Royal Exchange,
the Bank, the Guildhall, the Inns of Court, the Courts of Law, and
every chamber fronting the streets near Westminster Hall and the
Houses of Parliament, parties of soldiers were posted before
daylight. A body of Horse Guards paraded Palace Yard; an
encampment was formed in the Park, where fifteen hundred men and
five battalions of Militia were under arms; the Tower was
fortified, the drawbridges were raised, the cannon loaded and
pointed, and two regiments of artillery busied in strengthening the
fortress and preparing it for defence. A numerous detachment of
soldiers were stationed to keep guard at the New River Head, which
Barnaby Rudge |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Emma by Jane Austen: She had to destroy all the hopes which she had been so industriously
feeding--to appear in the ungracious character of the one preferred--
and acknowledge herself grossly mistaken and mis-judging in all her
ideas on one subject, all her observations, all her convictions,
all her prophecies for the last six weeks.
The confession completely renewed her first shame--and the sight
of Harriet's tears made her think that she should never be in charity
with herself again.
Harriet bore the intelligence very well--blaming nobody--
and in every thing testifying such an ingenuousness of disposition
and lowly opinion of herself, as must appear with particular
Emma |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Secret Sharer by Joseph Conrad: of the Gulf of Siam, tack for tack, in light winds and smooth water)--
the fourth day, I say, of this miserable juggling with the unavoidable,
as we sat at our evening meal, that man, whose slightest movement
I dreaded, after putting down the dishes ran up on deck busily.
This could not be dangerous. Presently he came down again;
and then it appeared that he had remembered a coat of mine
which I had thrown over a rail to dry after having been wetted
in a shower which had passed over the ship in the afternoon.
Sitting stolidly at the head of the table I became terrified at
the sight of the garment on his arm. Of course he made for my door.
There was no time to lose.
The Secret Sharer |
