| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Divine Comedy (translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow) by Dante Alighieri: And who for my salvation didst endure
In Hell to leave the imprint of thy feet,
Of whatsoever things I have beheld,
As coming from thy power and from thy goodness
I recognise the virtue and the grace.
Thou from a slave hast brought me unto freedom,
By all those ways, by all the expedients,
Whereby thou hadst the power of doing it.
Preserve towards me thy magnificence,
So that this soul of mine, which thou hast healed,
Pleasing to thee be loosened from the body."
The Divine Comedy (translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow) |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Letters from England by Elizabeth Davis Bancroft: agreeable set . . . Lady Morgan's reunions are entertaining to me
because they are collections of lions, but they are not strictly and
exclusively fashionable. They remind me in their composition from
various circles of Mrs. Otis's parties in Boston. We have in this
respect an advantage over the English themselves, as in our position
we see a great variety of cliques.
For instance, last evening, the 31st, I took Louisa, at half-past
seven, to the house of Mr. Hawes, an under Secretary of State, to
see a beautiful children's masque. It was an impersonation of the
"Old Year" dressed a little like LEAR with snowy hair and draperies.
OLD YEAR played his part inimitably, at times with great pathos, and
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Gambara by Honore de Balzac: pride and of modesty if you can ask me to tell it after what you have
just heard."
"Of whom, then, can I ask it?" cried the Count, in whom passion was
blinding his wits.
"Of yourself," replied Marianna. "Either you understand me by this
time, or you never will. Try to ask yourself."
"I will, but you must listen. And this hand, which I am holding, is to
lie in mine as long as my narrative is truthful."
"I am listening," said Marianna.
"A woman's life begins with her first passion," said Andrea. "And my
dear Marianna began to live only on the day when she first saw Paolo
Gambara |
