| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Frankenstein by Mary Shelley: colours of the landscape and the appearances of the sky. "This is
what it is to live," he cried; "how I enjoy existence! But you,
my dear Frankenstein, wherefore are you desponding and sorrowful!"
In truth, I was occupied by gloomy thoughts and neither saw the descent
of the evening star nor the golden sunrise reflected in the Rhine.
And you, my friend, would be far more amused with the journal of Clerval,
who observed the scenery with an eye of feeling and delight,
than in listening to my reflections. I, a miserable wretch,
haunted by a curse that shut up every avenue to enjoyment.
We had agreed to descend the Rhine in a boat from Strasbourg to
Rotterdam, whence we might take shipping for London. During this
Frankenstein |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Recruit by Honore de Balzac: touched by the moonlight, had only just appeared to him. His step woke
the echoes of the silent streets, but he met no one until he came to
the shop of a weaver, who was still at work. From him he inquired his
way to the mayor's house, and the way-worn recruit soon found himself
seated in the porch of that establishment, waiting for the billet he
had asked for. Instead of receiving it at once, he was summoned to the
mayor's presence, where he found himself the object of minute
observation. The young man was good-looking, and belonged, evidently,
to a distinguished family. His air and manner were those of the
nobility. The intelligence of a good education was in his face.
"What is your name?" asked the mayor, giving him a shrewd and meaning
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Ballads by Robert Louis Stevenson: And we gave her the maintops'l, and stood by to go about.
All day we tacked and tacked between the South Head and the North;
All day we hauled the frozen sheets, and got no further forth;
All day as cold as charity, in bitter pain and dread,
For very life and nature we tacked from head to head.
We gave the South a wider berth, for there the tide-race roared;
But every tack we made we brought the North Head close aboard:
So's we saw the cliffs and houses, and the breakers running high,
And the coastguard in his garden, with his glass against his eye.
The frost was on the village roofs as white as ocean foam;
The good red fires were burning bright in every 'longshore home;
Ballads |
