| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe: encoffined, we two alone bore it to its rest. The vault in which
we placed it (and which had been so long unopened that our
torches, half smothered in its oppressive atmosphere, gave us
little opportunity for investigation) was small, damp, and
entirely without means of admission for light; lying, at great
depth, immediately beneath that portion of the building in which
was my own sleeping apartment. It had been used, apparently, in
remote feudal times, for the worst purposes of a donjon-keep, and,
in later days, as a place of deposit for powder, or some other
highly combustible substance, as a portion of its floor,
and the whole interior of a long archway through which we reached
The Fall of the House of Usher |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Patchwork Girl of Oz by L. Frank Baum: Quadling Country seemed peaceful and prosperous,
if rather lonely, and the road was more distinct
and easier to follow.
But just as they were congratulating themselves
upon the progress they had made they came upon a
broad river which swept along between high banks,
and here the road ended and there was no bridge of
any sort to allow them to cross.
"This is queer," mused Dorothy, looking at
the water reflectively. "Why should there be
any road, if the river stops everyone walking
The Patchwork Girl of Oz |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne: could never be undone;--nay, he doubted even whether an act of parliament
could reach it:--He knew as well as you, that the legislature assumed a
power over surnames;--but for very strong reasons, which he could give, it
had never yet adventured, he would say, to go a step farther.
It was observable, that tho' my father, in consequence of this opinion,
had, as I have told you, the strongest likings and dislikings towards
certain names;--that there were still numbers of names which hung so
equally in the balance before him, that they were absolutely indifferent to
him. Jack, Dick, and Tom were of this class: These my father called
neutral names;--affirming of them, without a satire, That there had been as
many knaves and fools, at least, as wise and good men, since the world
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