| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Mistress Wilding by Rafael Sabatini: "Madam, that man is here."
She stood frozen. Not more of a statue was Lot's wife in the moment of
looking behind her than she who dared not look behind. That voice! A
voice from the dead, a voice she had heard for the last time in the
cottage that was Feversham's lodging at Weston Zoyland. Her wild eyes
fell upon Sir Rowland's face. It showed livid; the nether-lip sucked in
and caught in the strong teeth, as if to prevent an outcry; the eyes
wild with fright. What did it mean? By an effort she wrenched herself
round at last, and a scream broke from her to rouse her aunt, her cousin,
and her brother, and bring them hastening towards her across the sweep
of lawn.
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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 Silverado Squatters by Robert Louis Stevenson: pleasure with profuse expectoration. She rattled away,
talking up hill and down dale, laughing, tossing her head,
showing her brilliant teeth. He looked on in silence, now
spitting heavily on the floor, now putting his head back and
uttering a loud, discordant, joyless laugh. He had a tangle
of shock hair, the colour of wool; his mouth was a grin;
although as strong as a horse, he looked neither heavy nor
yet adroit, only leggy, coltish, and in the road. But it was
plain he was in high spirits, thoroughly enjoying his visit;
and he laughed frankly whenever we failed to accomplish what
we were about. This was scarcely helpful: it was even, to
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Sons and Lovers by D. H. Lawrence: Dismissed, he wanted to kiss her, but he dared not. She half
wanted him to kiss her, but could not bring herself to give any sign.
She only breathed freely when he was gone out of the room again,
leaving behind him a faint smell of pit-dirt.
Mrs. Morel had a visit every day from the Congregational clergyman.
Mr. Heaton was young, and very poor. His wife had died at the
birth of his first baby, so he remained alone in the manse.
He was a Bachelor of Arts of Cambridge, very shy, and no preacher.
Mrs. Morel was fond of him, and he depended on her. For hours
he talked to her, when she was well. He became the god-parent
of the child.
Sons and Lovers |
The fourth excerpt represents the element of Earth. It speaks of physical influences and the impact of the unseen on the visible world, and is drawn from Pierre Grassou by Honore de Balzac: cleanliness, which was all the more visible because the pure and
little changing light from the north flooded with its cold clear beams
the vast apartment. Fougeres, being merely a genre painter, does not
need the immense machinery and outfit which ruin historical painters;
he has never recognized within himself sufficient faculty to attempt
high-art, and he therefore clings to easel painting.
At the beginning of the month of December of that year, a season at
which the bourgeois of Paris conceive, periodically, the burlesque
idea of perpetuating their forms and figures already too bulky in
themselves, Pierre Grassou, who had risen early, prepared his palette,
and lighted his stove, was eating a roll steeped in milk, and waiting
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