| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Weir of Hermiston by Robert Louis Stevenson: their trembling wives. At the first she was not wholly without charm.
Neighbours recalled in her, as a child, a strain of elfin wilfulness,
gentle little mutinies, sad little gaieties, even a morning gleam of
beauty that was not to be fulfilled. She withered in the growing, and
(whether it was the sins of her sires or the sorrows of her mothers)
came to her maturity depressed, and, as it were, defaced; no blood of
life in her, no grasp or gaiety; pious, anxious, tender, tearful, and
incompetent.
It was a wonder to many that she had married - seeming so wholly of the
stuff that makes old maids. But chance cast her in the path of Adam
Weir, then the new Lord-Advocate, a recognised, risen man, the conqueror
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Heap O' Livin' by Edgar A. Guest: An' no one should ever complain it's unfair
Because at the moment he's tastin' despair.
HARD WORK
One day, in ages dark and dim,
A toiler, weary, worn and faint,
Who found his task too much for him,
Gave voice unto a sad complaint.
And seeking emphasis to give
Unto his trials (day-starred!)
Coupled to "work" this adjective,
This little word of terror: _Hard_.
A Heap O' Livin' |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from 1492 by Mary Johntson: the mud wall of our town. Beyond the forest waved in the
wind, and soft white clouds sailed over it in a sky of essential
sapphire. ``There's an aspect here of peace!''
``That is because Guacanagari, from his new town, holds
his people still. For that Indian the scent of godship has
not yet departed! He sees the Admiral always as a silver-
haired hero bringing warmth and light. He is like a dog
for fidelity!--But I saw three Indians from outside his
country curse him in the name of all the other tribes, with a
kind of magical ceremony. Is he right, or is he wrong,
Juan Lepe? Or is he neither the one nor the other, but
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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 The Hated Son by Honore de Balzac: every hour like a bitter tide.
Obliged at last to keep her bed, the duchess failed rapidly, for she
was then unable to see her son, forbidden as he was by her compact
with his father to approach the house. The sorrow of the youth was
equal to that of the mother. Inspired by the genius of repressed
feeling, Etienne created a mystical language by which to communicate
with his mother. He studied the resources of his voice like an opera-
singer, and often he came beneath her windows to let her hear his
melodiously melancholy voice, when Beauvouloir by a sign informed him
she was alone. Formerly, as a babe, he had consoled his mother with
his smiles, now, become a poet, he caressed her with his melodies.
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