The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Charmides and Other Poems by Oscar Wilde: Full winter: and the lusty goodman brings
His load of faggots from the chilly byre,
And stamps his feet upon the hearth, and flings
The sappy billets on the waning fire,
And laughs to see the sudden lightening scare
His children at their play, and yet, - the spring is in the air;
Already the slim crocus stirs the snow,
And soon yon blanched fields will bloom again
With nodding cowslips for some lad to mow,
For with the first warm kisses of the rain
The winter's icy sorrow breaks to tears,
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The King of the Golden River by John Ruskin: the old gentleman, having performed another and a more energetic
concerto on the knocker, turned round to look after his flyaway
cloak. In so doing he caught sight of Gluck's little yellow head
jammed in the window, with its mouth and eyes very wide open indeed.
"Hollo!" said the little gentleman; "that's not the way to
answer the door. I'm wet; let me in."
To do the little gentleman justice, he WAS wet. His feather
hung down between his legs like a beaten puppy's tail, dripping
like an umbrella, and from the ends of his mustaches the water was
running into his waistcoat pockets and out again like a mill
stream.
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