| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne: that Obadiah has told his tale also, and with such rueful looks of affected
concern, as he thinks best will contrast the two figures as they stand by
each other.--Let him imagine, that my father has stepped up stairs to see
my mother.--And, to conclude this work of imagination,--let him imagine the
doctor washed,--rubbed down, and condoled,--felicitated,--got into a pair
of Obadiah's pumps, stepping forwards towards the door, upon the very point
of entering upon action.
Truce!--truce, good Dr. Slop!--stay thy obstetrick hand;--return it safe
into thy bosom to keep it warm;--little dost thou know what obstacles,--
little dost thou think what hidden causes, retard its operation!--Hast
thou, Dr. Slop,--hast thou been entrusted with the secret articles of the
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Howard Pyle's Book of Pirates by Howard Pyle: beside the dying man through the silent watches of the tropical
nights. Oftentimes upon these occasions as he looked at the thin,
lean face babbling and talking so aimlessly, he wondered what it
all meant. Could it have been madness--madness in which the
separate entities of good and bad each had, in its turn, a
perfect and distinct existence? He chose to think that this was
the case. Who, within his inner consciousness, does not feel
that same ferine, savage man struggling against the stern,
adamantine bonds of morality and decorum? Were those bonds burst
asunder, as it was with this man, might not the wild beast rush
forth, as it had rushed forth in him, to rend and to tear? Such
Howard Pyle's Book of Pirates |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Tess of the d'Urbervilles, A Pure Woman by Thomas Hardy: emotional shock. But such was unreasoning memory that,
though he stood there openly and palpably a converted
man, who was sorrowing for his past irregularities, a
fear overcame her, paralyzing her movement so that she
neither retreated nor advanced.
To think of what emanated from that countenance when
she saw it last, and to behold it now! ... There was
the same handsome unpleasantness of mien, but now he
wore neatly trimmed, old-fashioned whiskers, the sable
moustache having disappeared; and his dress was
half-clerical, a modification which had changed his
Tess of the d'Urbervilles, A Pure Woman |
