| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Exiles by Honore de Balzac: contrast. His was one of those melodious countenances which even when
silent speak and attract us. And yet, on marking it attentively, the
incipient blight might have been detected which comes of a great
thought or a passion, the faint yellow tinge that made him seem like a
young leaf opening to the sun.
No contrast could be greater or more startling than that seen in the
companionship of these two men. It was like seeing a frail and
graceful shrub that has grown from the hollow trunk of some gnarled
willow, withered by age, blasted by lightning, standing decrepit; one
of those majestic trees that painters love; the trembling sapling
takes shelter there from storms. One was a god, the other was an
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Aeneid by Virgil: Blood, brains, and foam gush from the gaping wound:
Scalp, face, and shoulders the keen steel divides,
And the shar'd visage hangs on equal sides.
The Trojans fly from their approaching fate;
And, had the victor then secur'd the gate,
And to his troops without unclos'd the bars,
One lucky day had ended all his wars.
But boiling youth, and blind desire of blood,
Push'd on his fury, to pursue the crowd.
Hamstring'd behind, unhappy Gyges died;
Then Phalaris is added to his side.
Aeneid |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Sons and Lovers by D. H. Lawrence: fuming and burning, making the valley clang with their passage.
They were gone, and the lights of the towns and villages glittered
in silence.
And then he came to the corner at home, which faced the
other side of the night. The ash-tree seemed a friend now.
His mother rose with gladness as he entered. He put his eight
shillings proudly on the table.
"It'll help, mother?" he asked wistfully.
"There's precious little left," she answered, "after your
ticket and dinners and such are taken off."
Then he told her the budget of the day. His life-story,
Sons and Lovers |
