| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from My Antonia by Willa Cather: the orange groves in Florida, and he knows all about grafting.
There ain't one of our neighbours has an orchard that bears like ours.'
In the middle of the orchard we came upon a grape arbour,
with seats built along the sides and a warped plank table.
The three children were waiting for us there. They looked up
at me bashfully and made some request of their mother.
`They want me to tell you how the teacher has the school picnic
here every year. These don't go to school yet, so they think it's
all like the picnic.'
After I had admired the arbour sufficiently, the youngsters ran away
to an open place where there was a rough jungle of French pinks,
My Antonia |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Apology by Xenophon: Socrates in the case of Phaedo (his beloved disciple). "He stroked
my head and pressed the hair upon my neck--he had a way of playing
with my air; and then he said: 'To-morrow, Phaedo, I suppose that
these fair locks of yours will be severed.'"
It is also said that, seeing Anytus[55] pass by, Socrates remarked:
"How proudly the great man steps; he thinks, no doubt, he has
performed some great and noble deed in putting me to death, and all
because, seeing him deemed worthy of the highest honours of the state,
I told him it ill became him to bring up his so in a tan-yard.[56]
What a scamp the fellow is! he appears not to know that of us two
whichever has achieved what is best and noblest for all future time is
The Apology |
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: The four sang on with the phlegmatic passivity of
persons who had long ago settled the question, and
there being no mistake about it, felt that further
thought was not required. With features strained hard
to enunciate the syllables they continued to regard the
centre of the flickering fire, the notes of the
youngest straying over into the pauses of the rest.
Tess turned from them, and went to the window again.
Darkness had now fallen without, but she put her face
to the pane as though to peer into the gloom. It was
really to hide her tears. If she could only believe
Tess of the d'Urbervilles, A Pure Woman |
