| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Beast in the Jungle by Henry James: to the surface, and the auditor would then have wondered indeed
what they were talking about. They had from an early hour made up
their mind that society was, luckily, unintelligent, and the margin
allowed them by this had fairly become one of their commonplaces.
Yet there were still moments when the situation turned almost
fresh--usually under the effect of some expression drawn from
herself. Her expressions doubtless repeated themselves, but her
intervals were generous. "What saves us, you know, is that we
answer so completely to so usual an appearance: that of the man
and woman whose friendship has become such a daily habit--or
almost--as to be at last indispensable." That for instance was a
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Princess by Alfred Tennyson: Or in their silent influence as they sat,
Had ever seemed to wrestle with burlesque,
And drove us, last, to quite a solemn close--
They hated banter, wished for something real,
A gallant fight, a noble princess--why
Not make her true-heroic--true-sublime?
Or all, they said, as earnest as the close?
Which yet with such a framework scarce could be.
Then rose a little feud betwixt the two,
Betwixt the mockers and the realists:
And I, betwixt them both, to please them both,
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Oedipus Trilogy by Sophocles: For it is seemly that a kinsman's woes
Be heard by kin and seen by kin alone.
OEDIPUS
O listen, since thy presence comes to me
A shock of glad surprise--so noble thou,
And I so vile--O grant me one small boon.
I ask it not on my behalf, but thine.
CREON
And what the favor thou wouldst crave of me?
OEDIPUS
Forth from thy borders thrust me with all speed;
Oedipus Trilogy |
