| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Dreams & Dust by Don Marquis: And magic of shifting waves
That darkle and glance and glow;
Dusky and purple and splendid,
Banded with loops of light,
The tall towers rose like pillars,
Lifting the dome of night;
The gliding cars of traffic
Slid swiftly up and down
Like monsters, fiery mailed,
Leaping across the town.
Not planned with a thought of beauty;
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Ion by Plato: variety of shapes, and is at last about to run away in the disguise of a
general. Would he rather be regarded as inspired or dishonest?' Ion, who
has no suspicion of the irony of Socrates, eagerly embraces the alternative
of inspiration.
The Ion, like the other earlier Platonic Dialogues, is a mixture of jest
and earnest, in which no definite result is obtained, but some Socratic or
Platonic truths are allowed dimly to appear.
The elements of a true theory of poetry are contained in the notion that
the poet is inspired. Genius is often said to be unconscious, or
spontaneous, or a gift of nature: that 'genius is akin to madness' is a
popular aphorism of modern times. The greatest strength is observed to
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Monster Men by Edgar Rice Burroughs: of the howling savages. To right and left fell
the mighty bull whip cutting down men with all
the force and dispatch of a steel saber.
The Dyaks, encouraged by the presence of Muda Saffir
in their rear, held their ground; and the infuriated,
brainless things that followed the wielder of the
bull whip threw themselves upon the head hunters
with beating hands and rending fangs.
Number Ten wrested a parang from an adversary,
and acting upon his example the other creatures
were not long in arming themselves in a similar manner.
The Monster Men |
