| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Perfect Wagnerite: A Commentary on the Niblung's Ring by George Bernard Shaw: out that it was by no means certain or even likely that Ibsen was
as definitely conscious of his thesis as I. All the stupid
people, and some critics who, though not stupid, had not
themselves written what the Germans call "tendency" works, saw
nothing in this but a fantastic affectation of the extravagant
self-conceit of knowing more about Ibsen than Ibsen himself.
Fortunately, in taking exactly the same position now with regard
to Wagner, I can claim his own authority to support me. "How," he
wrote to Roeckel on the 23rd. August 1856, "can an artist expect
that what he has felt intuitively should be perfectly realized by
others, seeing that he himself feels in the presence of his work,
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Dunwich Horror by H. P. Lovecraft: a key to the origin they disgrace. Some of the Whateleys and Bishops
still send their eldest sons to Harvard and Miskatonic, though
those sons seldom return to the mouldering gambrel roofs under
which they and their ancestors were born.
No one, even those
who have the facts concerning the recent horror, can say just
what is the matter with Dunwich; though old legends speak of unhallowed
rites and conclaves of the Indians, amidst which they called forbidden
shapes of shadow out of the great rounded hills, and made wild
orgiastic prayers that were answered by loud crackings and rumblings
from the ground below. In 1747 the Reverend Abijah Hoadley, newly
The Dunwich Horror |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The $30,000 Bequest and Other Stories by Mark Twain: The principal of the Institution begged him to be seated and listen
to the recitations that were going on. He accordingly obeyed
the request, and seemed to be much pleased. After the school
was dismissed, and the young hearts regained their freedom,
with the songs of the evening, laughing at the anticipated pleasures
of a happy home, while others tittered at the actions of the past day,
he addressed the teacher in a tone that indicated a resolution--
with an undaunted mind. He said he had determined to become
a student, if he could meet with his approbation. "Sir," said he,
"I have spent much time in the world. I have traveled among
the uncivilized inhabitants of America. I have met with friends,
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