| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Ion by Plato: derives a mysterious power from the poet; and the poet, in like manner, is
inspired by the God. The poets and their interpreters may be compared to a
chain of magnetic rings suspended from one another, and from a magnet. The
magnet is the Muse, and the ring which immediately follows is the poet
himself; from him are suspended other poets; there is also a chain of
rhapsodes and actors, who also hang from the Muses, but are let down at the
side; and the last ring of all is the spectator. The poet is the inspired
interpreter of the God, and this is the reason why some poets, like Homer,
are restricted to a single theme, or, like Tynnichus, are famous for a
single poem; and the rhapsode is the inspired interpreter of the poet, and
for a similar reason some rhapsodes, like Ion, are the interpreters of
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Roads of Destiny by O. Henry: body, while the flames of the four and twenty candles danced and
flickered on the table.
THE RIGHT BRANCH
/Three leagues, then, the road ran, and turned into a puzzle. It
joined with another and a larger road at right angles. David
stood, uncertain, for a while, and then took the road to the
right./
Whither it led he knew not, but he was resolved to leave Vernoy far
behind that night. He travelled a league and then passed a large
/chateau/ which showed testimony of recent entertainment. Lights shone
from every window; from the great stone gateway ran a tracery of wheel
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Merry Men by Robert Louis Stevenson: family; and with every second word he ripped another stitch out of
the air balloon of Desprez's vanity. By the time coffee was over
the poor Doctor was as limp as a napkin.
'Let us go and see the ruins,' said Casimir.
They strolled forth into the street. The fall of the house, like
the loss of a front tooth, had quite transformed the village.
Through the gap the eye commanded a great stretch of open snowy
country, and the place shrank in comparison. It was like a room
with an open door. The sentinel stood by the green gate, looking
very red and cold, but he had a pleasant word for the Doctor and
his wealthy kinsman.
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