| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Two Poets by Honore de Balzac: country; they would rather have it."
"The French language does not lend itself very readily to poetry, does
it?" Astolphe remarked to Chatelet. "Cicero's prose is a thousand
times more poetical to my way of thinking."
"The true poetry of France is song, lyric verse," Chatelet answered.
"Which proves that our language is eminently adapted for music," said
Adrien.
"I should like very much to hear the poetry that has cost Nais her
reputation," said Zephirine; "but after receiving Amelie's request in
such a way, it is not very likely that she will give us a specimen."
"She ought to have them recited in justice to herself," said Francis.
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Twenty Years After by Alexandre Dumas: "That his eminence has ordered you to England and that
Monsieur d'Artagnan is waiting for you in the stables."
Porthos sighed heavily, arose, took his hat, his pistols,
and his cloak, and departed, casting a look of regret upon
the couch where he had hoped to sleep so well.
No sooner had he turned his back than the officer laid
himself down in it, and he had scarcely crossed the
threshold before his successor, in his turn, was snoring
immoderately. It was very natural, he being the only person
in the whole assemblage, except the king, the queen, and the
Duke of Orleans, who slept gratuitously.
Twenty Years After |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from House of Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne: vague moan of her brother. This facile adaptation was at once the
symptom of perfect health and its best preservative.
A nature like Phoebe's has invariably its due influence, but is
seldom regarded with due honor. Its spiritual force, however, may
be partially estimated by the fact of her having found a place for
herself, amid circumstances so stern as those which surrounded
the mistress of the house; and also by the effect which she
produced on a character of so much more mass than her own. For
the gaunt, bony frame and limbs of Hepzibah, as compared with
the tiny lightsomeness of Phoebe's figure, were perhaps in some
fit proportion with the moral weight and substance, respectively,
House of Seven Gables |
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 Taras Bulba and Other Tales by Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol: blessed memory, Ivan Pererepenko, son of Onisieff, a light burns every
day, and for a remarkably long period of time, which is also a clear
proof of the fact. For hitherto, owing to his repulsive niggardliness,
not only the tallow-candle but also the grease-lamp has been
extinguished.
"And therefore I pray that the said nobleman, Ivan Dovgotchkun, son of
Nikifor, being plainly guilty of incendiarism, of insult to my rank,
name, and family, and of illegal appropriation of my property, and,
worse than all else, of malicious and deliberate addition to my
surname, of the nickname of goose, be condemned by the court, to fine,
satisfaction, costs, and damages, and, being chained, be removed to
Taras Bulba and Other Tales |
