| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Art of Writing by Robert Louis Stevenson: artist (so to speak) at the easel, and pass the afternoon
with him in a generous emulation, making coloured drawings.
On one of these occasions, I made the map of an island; it
was elaborately and (I thought) beautifully coloured; the
shape of it took my fancy beyond expression; it contained
harbours that pleased me like sonnets; and with the
unconsciousness of the predestined, I ticketed my performance
'Treasure Island.' I am told there are people who do not
care for maps, and find it hard to believe. The names, the
shapes of the woodlands, the courses of the roads and rivers,
the prehistoric footsteps of man still distinctly traceable
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Polity of Athenians and Lacedaemonians by Xenophon: they are well aware that, as a general rule, this person
caricatured[25] does not belong to the People, or the masses. He is
more likely to be some wealthy or well-born person, or man of means
and influence. In fact, but few poor people and of the popular stamp
incur the comic lash, or if they do they have brought it on themselves
by excessive love of meddling or some covetous self-seeking at the
expense of the People, so that no particular annoyance is felt at
seeing such folk satirised.
[23] See Grote, "H. G." viii. 446, especially p. 449, "growth and
development of comedy at Athens"; Curtius, "H. G." iii. pp. 242,
243; Thirlwall, "H. G." ch. xviii. vol. iii. p. 42.
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce: against the right shoulder, the hands crossed upon the stock.
A lieutenant stood at the right of the line, the point
of his sword upon the ground, his left hand resting upon his
right. Excepting the group of four at the center of the
bridge, not a man moved. The company faced the bridge,
staring stonily, motionless. The sentinels, facing the
banks of the stream, might have been statues to adorn the
bridge. The captain stood with folded arms, silent,
observing the work of his subordinates, but making no sign.
Death is a dignitary who when he comes announced is to be
received with formal manifestations of respect, even by those
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge |
