| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Tanglewood Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne: hospitably received by King Cyzicus, its sovereign, who made a
feast for them, and treated them like brothers. But the
Argonauts saw that this good king looked downcast and very much
troubled, and they therefore inquired of him what was the
matter. King Cyzicus hereupon informed them that he and his
subjects were greatly abused and incommoded by the inhabitants
of a neighboring mountain, who made war upon them, and killed
many people, and ravaged the country. And while they were
talking about it, Cyzicus pointed to the mountain, and asked
Jason and his companions what they saw there.
"I see some very tall objects," answered Jason; "but they are
Tanglewood Tales |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Voyage Out by Virginia Woolf: gazed out to sea.
It was Rachel's turn now to feel depressed. As he talked of writing
he had become suddenly impersonal. He might never care for any one;
all that desire to know her and get at her, which she had felt
pressing on her almost painfully, had completely vanished.
"Are you a good writer?" she asked.
"Yes," he said. "I'm not first-rate, of course; I'm good second-rate;
about as good as Thackeray, I should say."
Rachel was amazed. For one thing it amazed her to hear Thackeray
called second-rate; and then she could not widen her point of
view to believe that there could be great writers in existence
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Ivanhoe by Walter Scott: if possible, no word or turn of phraseology
betraying an origin directly modern. It is
one thing to make use of the language and sentiments
which are common to ourselves and
our forefathers, and it is another to invest them
with the sentiments and dialect exclusively
proper to their descendants.
This, my dear friend, I have found the most
difficult part of my task; and, to speak frankly,
I hardly expect to satisfy your less partial
judgment, and more extensive knowledge of
Ivanhoe |
