| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Art of Writing by Robert Louis Stevenson: purely ornamental; whether, if it be purely ornamental, it
may not weaken or obscure the general design; and finally,
whether, if we decide to use it, we should do so grossly and
notably, or in some conventional disguise: are questions of
plastic style continually rearising. And the sphinx that
patrols the highways of executive art has no more
unanswerable riddle to propound.
In literature (from which I must draw my instances) the great
change of the past century has been effected by the admission
of detail. It was inaugurated by the romantic Scott; and at
length, by the semi-romantic Balzac and his more or less
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Records of a Family of Engineers by Robert Louis Stevenson: of the light-room floor was laid, which may be held as
finishing the masonry of this important national edifice.
After going through the usual ceremonies observed by the
brotherhood on occasions of this kind, the writer, addressing
himself to the artificers and seamen who were present, briefly
alluded to the utility of the undertaking as a monument of the
wealth of British commerce, erected through the spirited
measures of the Commissioners of the Northern Lighthouses by
means of the able assistance of those who now surrounded him.
He then took an opportunity of stating that toward those
connected with this arduous work he would ever retain the most
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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 Where There's A Will by Mary Roberts Rinehart: He left with the others."
Well, we went out and I took the path I knew best, which was out
toward the spring-house. There wasn't a soul in sight. The
place looked lonely, with the trees hung with snow, and arching
over the board walk. At the little bridge over the creek Doctor
Barnes stopped, and leaning over the rail, took a good look at
me.
"When you self-contained women go to pieces," he said, "you
pretty near smash, don't you? You look as if you'd had a death
in your family."
"This WAS my family," I half sniveled.
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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 Symposium by Xenophon: indivisible, bears many titles.[20] But this thing I know, that these
twain have separate altars, shrines, and sacrifices,[21] as befits
their nature--she that is earthly, of a lighter and a laxer sort; she
that is heavenly, purer and holier in type. And you may well
conjecture, it is the earthly goddess, the common Aphrodite, who sends
forth the bodily loves; while from her that is named of heaven,
Ourania, proceed those loves which feed upon the soul, on friendship
and on noble deeds. It is by this latter, Callias, that you are held
in bonds, if I mistake not, Love divine.[22] This I infer as well from
the fair and noble character of your friend, as from the fact that you
invite his father to share your life and intercourse.[23] Since no
The Symposium |
