| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Witch, et. al by Anton Chekhov: Young Men there was a snowstorm, and what happened then? The
mechanic came in to warm himself. Then on St. Alexey's Day the
ice broke on the river and the district policeman turned up, and
he was chatting with you all night . . . the damned brute! And
when he came out in the morning and I looked at him, he had rings
under his eyes and his cheeks were hollow! Eh? During the August
fast there were two storms and each time the huntsman turned up.
I saw it all, damn him! Oh, she is redder than a crab now, aha!"
"You didn't see anything."
"Didn't I! And this winter before Christmas on the Day of the Ten
Martyrs of Crete, when the storm lasted for a whole day and night
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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 Dynamiter by Robert Louis Stevenson and Fanny Van De Grift Stevenson: next day, all may have been changed. If you love romance (as
artists do), few lives are more romantic than that of the
obscure individual now addressing you. Obscure yet famous.
Mine is an anonymous, infernal glory. By infamous means, I
work towards my bright purpose. I found the liberty and
peace of a poor country, desperately abused; the future
smiles upon that land; yet, in the meantime, I lead the
existence of a hunted brute, work towards appalling ends, and
practice hell's dexterities.'
Somerset, glass in hand, contemplated the strange fanatic
before him, and listened to his heated rhapsody, with
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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 The Rig Veda: youthful Srutaratha,
Who, rich in steeds, gave me two dark red horses together with
three
hundred head of cattle.
HYMN XXXVII. Indra.
1. BEDEWED with holy oil and meetly worshipped, the Swift One
vies
with Surya's beam in splendour.
The Rig Veda |
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 Lady Susan by Jane Austen: interference which, you must know, it is not in his nature to refuse when
urged in such a manner?"
"His disposition, you know, is warm, and he came to expostulate with me;
his compassion all alive for this ill-used girl, this heroine in distress!
We misunderstood each other: he believed me more to blame than I really
was; I considered his interference less excusable than I now find it. I
have a real regard for him, and was beyond expression mortified to find
it, as I thought, so ill bestowed We were both warm, and of course both to
blame. His resolution of leaving Churchhill is consistent with his general
eagerness. When I understood his intention, however, and at the same time
began to think that we had been perhaps equally mistaken in each other's
Lady Susan |
