| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Youth by Joseph Conrad: to the swell and to such wind as there was--a mere breath--
the boats would not keep astern where they were safe,
but persisted, in a pig-headed way boats have, in getting
under the counter and then swinging alongside. They
were knocking about dangerously and coming near the
flame, while the ship rolled on them, and, of course, there
was always the danger of the masts going over the side
at any moment. I and my two boat-keepers kept them
off as best we could with oars and boat-hooks; but to be
constantly at it became exasperating, since there was no
reason why we should not leave at once. We could not
Youth |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Master of the World by Jules Verne: American nation!
Before the day was over, various rewards of large amounts were
promised to anyone who revealed the hiding place of this .dangerous
inventor, to anyone who could identify him, and to anyone who should
rid the country of him.
Such was the situation during the last fortnight of July. All was
left to the hazard of fortune. The moment the outlaw re-appeared he
would be seen and signaled, and when the chance came he would be
arrested. This could not be accomplished when he was in his
automobile on land or in his boat on the water. No; he must be seized
suddenly, before he had any opportunity to escape by means of that
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Ion by Plato: does he not speak of human society and of intercourse of men, good and bad,
skilled and unskilled, and of the gods conversing with one another and with
mankind, and about what happens in heaven and in the world below, and the
generations of gods and heroes? Are not these the themes of which Homer
sings?
ION: Very true, Socrates.
SOCRATES: And do not the other poets sing of the same?
ION: Yes, Socrates; but not in the same way as Homer.
SOCRATES: What, in a worse way?
ION: Yes, in a far worse.
SOCRATES: And Homer in a better way?
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