| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe: comfortless, antique, and tattered. Many books and musical
instruments lay scattered about, but failed to give any vitality
to the scene. I felt that I breathed an atmosphere of sorrow.
An air of stern, deep, and irredeemable gloom hung over and
pervaded all.
Upon my entrance, Usher rose from a sofa on which he had
been lying at full length, and greeted me with a vivacious warmth
which had much in it, I at first thought, of an overdone
cordiality--of the constrained effort of the ennuye man of
the world. A glance, however, at his countenance, convinced me
of his perfect sincerity. We sat down; and for some moments,
The Fall of the House of Usher |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain: I reckon my Tom stayed at your house last night --
one of you. And now he's afraid to come to church.
I've got to settle with him."
Mrs. Thatcher shook her head feebly and turned
paler than ever.
"He didn't stay with us," said Mrs. Harper, be-
ginning to look uneasy. A marked anxiety came into
Aunt Polly's face.
"Joe Harper, have you seen my Tom this morning?"
"No'm."
"When did you see him last?"
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Hidden Masterpiece by Honore de Balzac: avoided that blunder, though many of our most illustrious painters
have fallen into it. In my work you will see whiteness beneath the
opacity of the broadest shadow. Unlike the crowd of ignoramuses, who
fancy they draw correctly because they can paint one good vanishing
line, I have not dryly outlined my figures, nor brought out
superstitiously minute anatomical details; for, let me tell you, the
human body does not end off with a line. In that respect sculptors get
nearer to the truth of nature than we do. Nature is all curves, each
wrapping or overlapping another. To speak rigorously, there is no such
thing as drawing. Do not laugh, young man; no matter how strange that
saying seems to you, you will understand the reasons for it one of
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