| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Waste Land by T. S. Eliot: 411. Cf. INFERNO, xxxiii. 46:
ed io sentii chiavar l'uscio di sotto
all'orribile torre.
Also F. H. Bradley, _Appearance and Reality_, p. 346:
My external sensations are no less private to myself than are my
thoughts or my feelings. In either case my experience falls within
my own circle, a circle closed on the outside; and, with all its
elements alike, every sphere is opaque to the others which surround
it. . . . In brief, regarded as an existence which appears in a soul,
the whole world for each is peculiar and private to that soul.
424. _V._ Weston, _From Ritual to Romance_; chapter on the Fisher King.
The Waste Land |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from My Antonia by Willa Cather: Squaw Creek, which cut up the west half of the Shimerdas'
place and made the land of little value for farming.
Soon we could see the broken, grassy clay cliffs which
indicated the windings of the stream, and the glittering tops
of the cottonwoods and ash trees that grew down in the ravine.
Some of the cottonwoods had already turned, and the yellow
leaves and shining white bark made them look like the gold
and silver trees in fairy tales.
As we approached the Shimerdas' dwelling, I could still see
nothing but rough red hillocks, and draws with shelving banks
and long roots hanging out where the earth had crumbled away.
My Antonia |
