| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy: tell me today when you came?" she said in the tone
of a neglected person. "I heard of it quite by accident."
"I did mean to tell you," said Wildeve. "But I--well,
I will speak frankly--I did not like to mention it
when I saw, Eustacia, that your star was not high.
The sight of a man lying wearied out with hard work,
as your husband lay, made me feel that to brag of my own
fortune to you would be greatly out of place. Yet, as you
stood there beside him, I could not help feeling too
that in many respects he was a richer man than I."
At this Eustacia said, with slumbering mischievousness,
Return of the Native |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Cavalry General by Xenophon: the field at Leuctra or at Mantinea.
[2] Lit. "without the rest of the city," i.e. the hoplites, etc.
Now, to deal with this vast hostile array, if only the city will
determine to sally out en masse to protect her rural districts, the
prospect is fair. Under God, our troopers, if properly cared for, are
the finer men; our infantry of the line are no less numerous, and as
regards physique, if it comes to that, not one whit inferior, while in
reference to moral qualities, they are more susceptible to the spur of
a noble ambition, if only under God's will they be correctly trained.
Or again, as touching pride of ancestry, what have Athenians to fear
as against Boeotians on that score?[3]
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Little Women by Louisa May Alcott: Neither silk, lace, nor orange flowers would she have. "I don't
want a fashionable wedding, but only those about me whom I love,
and to them I wish to look and be my familiar self."
So she made her wedding gown herself, sewing into it the tender
hopes and innocent romances of a girlish heart. her sisters braided
up her pretty hair, and the only ornaments she wore were the lilies
of the valley, which `her John' liked best of all the flowers that
grew.
"You do look just like our own dear Meg, only so very sweet
and lovely that I should hug you if it wouldn't crumple your dress,"
cried Amy, surveying her with delight when all was done.
Little Women |
