| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Wrecker by Stevenson & Osbourne: I don't know as ever I knew how, and I'm sure I don't
remember. If it pans out--the wreck, I mean--we'll go to
Europe, and live on the interest of our money. No more work
for me. I shake when people speak to me. I have gone on,
hoping and hoping, and working and working, and the lead has
pinched right out. I want to lie on my back in a garden and
read Shakespeare and E. P. Roe. Don't suppose it's cowardice,
Loudon. I'm a sick man. Rest is what I must have. I've
worked hard all my life; I never spared myself; every dollar I
ever made, I've coined my brains for it. I've never done a mean
thing; I've lived respectable, and given to the poor. Who has a
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Sons and Lovers by D. H. Lawrence: His attempt at laughter had vanished.
The mother looked down at the jagged, close-clipped head of
her child. She put her hands on his hair, and stroked and fondled
his head.
"Oh--my boy!" she faltered. Her lip trembled, her face broke,
and, snatching up the child, she buried her face in his shoulder
and cried painfully. She was one of those women who cannot cry;
whom it hurts as it hurts a man. It was like ripping something
out of her, her sobbing.
Morel sat with his elbows on his knees, his hands gripped
together till the knuckles were white. He gazed in the fire,
Sons and Lovers |
