| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Twice Told Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne: set free, in a crowd of rejoicing visions, to sport amid the
storm and desolation of the present time. Until they have
finished the bottle, we must turn our eyes elsewhere.
It so chanced that, on this stormy night, Mr. John Brown found
himself ill at ease in his wire-cushioned arm-chair, by the
glowing grate of anthracite which heated his handsome parlor. He
was naturally a good sort of a man, and kind and pitiful whenever
the misfortunes of others happened to reach his heart through the
padded vest of his own prosperity. This evening he had thought
much about his old partner, Peter Goldthwaite, his strange
vagaries, and continual ill luck, the poverty of his dwelling, at
Twice Told Tales |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Lair of the White Worm by Bram Stoker: they seem to contain in themselves a remarkable will power which
there is no gainsaying. It is a power that is partly racial and
partly individual: a power impregnated with some mysterious
quality, partly hypnotic, partly mesmeric, which seems to take away
from eyes that meet them all power of resistance--nay, all power of
wishing to resist. With eyes like those, set in that all-commanding
face, one would need to be strong indeed to think of resisting the
inflexible will that lay behind.
"You may think, Adam, that all this is imagination on my part,
especially as I have never seen any of them. So it is, but
imagination based on deep study. I have made use of all I know or
Lair of the White Worm |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Lysis by Plato: congenial to him, either in his soul, or in his character, or in his
manners, or in his form.
Yes, yes, said Menexenus. But Lysis was silent.
Then, I said, the conclusion is, that what is of a congenial nature must be
loved.
It follows, he said.
Then the lover, who is true and no counterfeit, must of necessity be loved
by his love.
Lysis and Menexenus gave a faint assent to this; and Hippothales changed
into all manner of colours with delight.
Here, intending to revise the argument, I said: Can we point out any
Lysis |
