| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Lily of the Valley by Honore de Balzac: swaying of the boat vaguely responds to the thoughts that are floating
in his soul. We felt the languid influence of this double poesy.
Words, tuned to the diapason of nature, disclosed mysterious graces;
looks were impassioned rays sharing the light shed broadcast by the
sun on the glowing meadows. The river was a path along which we flew.
Our spirit, no longer kept down by the measured tread of our
footsteps, took possession of the universe. The abounding joy of a
child at liberty, graceful in its motions, enticing in its play, is
the living expression of two freed souls, delighting themselves by
becoming ideally the wondrous being dreamed of by Plato and known to
all whose youth has been filled with a blessed love. To describe to
The Lily of the Valley |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Secret Sharer by Joseph Conrad: also under the poop--he had to look into them all. When at last I
showed him out on the quarter-deck he drew a long, spiritless sigh,
and mumbled dismally that he must really be going back to his ship now.
I desired my mate, who had joined us, to see to the captain's boat.
The man of whiskers gave a blast on the whistle which he used
to wear hanging round his neck, and yelled, "Sephora's away!"
My double down there in my cabin must have heard, and certainly
could not feel more relieved than I. Four fellows came running
out from somewhere forward and went over the side, while my
own men, appearing on deck too, lined the rail. I escorted
my visitor to the gangway ceremoniously, and nearly overdid it.
The Secret Sharer |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln: Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth
upon this continent a new nation: conceived in liberty, and
dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war. . .testing whether
that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated. . .
can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war.
We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting place
for those who here gave their lives that this nation might live.
It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate. . .we cannot consecrate. . .
we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead,
|
