| 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: the ardour of their pleasure. I must therefore warn that
well-known character, the general reader, that I am here
embarked upon a most distasteful business: taking down the
picture from the wall and looking on the back; and, like the
inquiring child, pulling the musical cart to pieces.
1. CHOICE OF WORDS. - The art of literature stands apart
from among its sisters, because the material in which the
literary artist works is the dialect of life; hence, on the
one hand, a strange freshness and immediacy of address to the
public mind, which is ready prepared to understand it; but
hence, on the other, a singular limitation. The sister arts
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Apology by Plato: was saying, I must beg you not to interrupt--he asked the oracle to tell
him whether anyone was wiser than I was, and the Pythian prophetess
answered, that there was no man wiser. Chaerephon is dead himself; but his
brother, who is in court, will confirm the truth of what I am saying.
Why do I mention this? Because I am going to explain to you why I have
such an evil name. When I heard the answer, I said to myself, What can the
god mean? and what is the interpretation of his riddle? for I know that I
have no wisdom, small or great. What then can he mean when he says that I
am the wisest of men? And yet he is a god, and cannot lie; that would be
against his nature. After long consideration, I thought of a method of
trying the question. I reflected that if I could only find a man wiser
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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 A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare: Hel. Good Hermia, do not be so bitter with me,
I euermore did loue you Hermia,
Did euer keepe your counsels, neuer wronged you,
Saue that in loue vnto Demetrius,
I told him of your stealth vnto this wood.
He followed you, for loue I followed him,
But he hath chid me hence, and threatned me
To strike me, spurne me, nay to kill me too;
And now, so you will let me quiet go,
To Athens will I beare my folly backe,
And follow you no further. Let me go.
A Midsummer Night's Dream |
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 Gods of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs: "From scraps of conversation which we overheard it was
evident that the black pirates were searching for a party
of fugitives that had escaped them several days prior. That
they considered the capture of the young woman important
was evident from the long and earnest interview the
commander of the fleet held with her when she was brought
to him. Later she was bound and placed in the compartment
with Dejah Thoris and myself.
"The new captive was a very beautiful girl. She told
Dejah Thoris that many years ago she had taken the voluntary
pilgrimage from the court of her father, the Jeddak of Ptarth.
The Gods of Mars |
