| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from 1492 by Mary Johntson: amicable great meeting between the two sovereigns and the
King of Portugal, the wisest subjects of both attending.
A line was to be drawn from top to bottom of Ocean-Sea,
and Portugal might discover to the cast of it, and Spain to
the west! The Holy Father would confirm, and so the
mighty spoil be justly divided. Every great geographer
should come into counsel. The greatest of them all, the
Discoverer, surely so! The Queen urged the Admiral's presence.
But he could not go. Sense of duty to his Viceroyship
held him as with chains. Then Bartholomew? But Bartholomew
was greatly needed for the war. He sent Don
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Waste Land by T. S. Eliot: which I have heard in Quebec County. Chapman says (_Handbook of
Birds of Eastern North America_) 'it is most at home in secluded
woodland and thickety retreats. . . . Its notes are not remarkable
for variety or volume, but in purity and sweetness of tone and
exquisite modulation they are unequalled.' Its 'water-dripping song'
is justly celebrated.
360. The following lines were stimulated by the account of one
of the Antarctic expeditions (I forget which, but I think one
of Shackleton's): it was related that the party of explorers,
at the extremity of their strength, had the constant delusion
that there was _one more member_ than could actually be counted.
The Waste Land |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving: forth with the treasures of the farm; the flail was busily
resounding within it from morning to night; swallows and martins
skimmed twittering about the eaves; an rows of pigeons, some with
one eye turned up, as if watching the weather, some with their
heads under their wings or buried in their bosoms, and others
swelling, and cooing, and bowing about their dames, were enjoying
the sunshine on the roof. Sleek unwieldy porkers were grunting in
the repose and abundance of their pens, from whence sallied
forth, now and then, troops of sucking pigs, as if to snuff the
air. A stately squadron of snowy geese were riding in an
adjoining pond, convoying whole fleets of ducks; regiments of
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow |
