| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Whirligigs by O. Henry: rifle and slipping on his dingy black alpaca coat. "You
come along, Mr. Plunkett, -- and I'll take you up to see
the boys. If you can tell which one of 'em your descrip-
tion fits better than it does the other you have the advan-
tage of me."
Bridger conducted the sheriff out and along the hard
beach close to which the tiny houses of the village were
distributed. Immediately back of the town rose sudden,
small, thickly wooded hills. Up one of these, by means
of steps cut in the hard clay, the consul led Plunkett.
the very verge of an eminence was perched, a two-
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Egmont by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe: you nothing? Count Egmont! Honour to Count Egmont!
Egmont. Here, too! What are you about? Burgher against burgher! Does
not even the neighbourhood of our royal mistress oppose a barrier to this
frenzy? Disperse yourselves, and go about your business. 'Tis a bad sign
when you thus keep holiday on working days. How did the disturbance
begin?
(The tumult gradually subsides, and the people gather around Egmont.)
Carpenter. They are fighting about their privileges.
Egmont. Which they will forfeit through their own folly,--and who are
you? You seem honest people.
Carpenter. 'Tis our wish to be so.
Egmont |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from A Distinguished Provincial at Paris by Honore de Balzac: grander in an actress by reason of its violent contrast with her
surroundings."
"And he who finds it, finds a diamond worthy of the proudest crown
lying in the mud," returned Lousteau.
"But Coralie is not attending to her part," remarked the manager.
"Coralie is smitten with our friend here, all unsuspicious of his
conquest, and Coralie will make a fiasco; she is missing her cues,
this is the second time she had not heard the prompter. Pray, go into
the corner, monsieur," he continued. "If Coralie is smitten with you,
I will go and tell her that you have left the house."
"No! no!" cried Lousteau; "tell Coralie that this gentleman is coming
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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 Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne: in so narrowly, and stood so black and dense on either side, and
disclosed such imperfect glimpses of the sky above, that, to
Hester's mind, it imaged not amiss the moral wilderness in which
she had so long been wandering. The day was chill and sombre.
Overhead was a gray expanse of cloud, slightly stirred, however,
by a breeze; so that a gleam of flickering sunshine might now and
then be seen at its solitary play along the path. This flitting
cheerfulness was always at the further extremity of some long
vista through the forest. The sportive sunlight -- feebly
sportive, at best, in the predominant pensiveness of the day and
scene -- withdrew itself as they came nigh, and left the spots
The Scarlet Letter |
