| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz by L. Frank Baum: "I'll get you one!" cried Dorothy, who was sorry for the poor man; so
she ran back to the buggy and took from her suit-case a pretty blue
ribbon. It did her good to see how the braided man's eyes sparkled
when he received this treasure.
"You have made me very, very happy, my dear!" he exclaimed; and then
he insisted on the Wizard taking the box of flutters and the little
girl accepting the box of rustles.
"You may need them, some time," he said, "and there is really no use
in my manufacturing these things unless somebody uses them."
"Why did you leave the surface of the earth?" enquired the Wizard.
"I could not help it. It is a sad story, but if you will try to
Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Royalty Restored/London Under Charles II by J. Fitzgerald Molloy: Abraham Cowley.--The author of "Hudibras."--Young Will Wycherley
and Lady Castlemaine--The story of his marriage.--Andrew Marvell,
poet and politician.--John Bunyan.
The men of genius who lived in the days of the merry monarch have
rendered his reign, like that of Elizabeth, illustrious in the
annals of literature. The fact of "Paradise Lost," the
"Pilgrim's Progress," "Hudibras," and "Alexander's Feast" being
given to the world whilst Charles II. occupied the throne, would
have sufficiently marked the epoch as one exceeding in
intellectual brilliancy; but besides these works, an abundance of
plays, poems, satires, treatises, and histories added fresh
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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 Arrow of Gold by Joseph Conrad: She has seen slavery, she has seen the Commune, she knows two
continents, she has seen a civil war, the glory of the Second
Empire, the horrors of two sieges; she has been in contact with
marked personalities, with great events, she has lived on her
wealth, on her personality, and there she is with her plumage
unruffled, as glossy as ever, unable to get old: - a sort of
Phoenix free from the slightest signs of ashes and dust, all
complacent amongst those inanities as if there had been nothing
else in the world. In my youthful haste I asked myself what sort
of airy soul she had.
At last Therese put a dish of fruit on the table, a small
The Arrow of Gold |
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 Gorgias by Plato: not forgotten: they are spoken, not written words, stories which are told
to a living audience, and so well told that we are more than half-inclined
to believe them (compare Phaedrus). As in conversation too, the striking
image or figure of speech is not forgotten, but is quickly caught up, and
alluded to again and again; as it would still be in our own day in a genial
and sympathetic society. The descriptions of Plato have a greater life and
reality than is to be found in any modern writing. This is due to their
homeliness and simplicity. Plato can do with words just as he pleases; to
him they are indeed 'more plastic than wax' (Republic). We are in the
habit of opposing speech and writing, poetry and prose. But he has
discovered a use of language in which they are united; which gives a
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