| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Divine Comedy (translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow) by Dante Alighieri: Where thou didst lay thy sacred burden down."
Thereafterward I heard: "O good Fabricius,
Virtue with poverty didst thou prefer
To the possession of great wealth with vice."
So pleasurable were these words to me
That I drew farther onward to have knowledge
Touching that spirit whence they seemed to come.
He furthermore was speaking of the largess
Which Nicholas unto the maidens gave,
In order to conduct their youth to honour.
"O soul that dost so excellently speak,
The Divine Comedy (translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow) |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Baby Mine by Margaret Mayo: know that."
Jimmy was beginning to see it more and more in the light of an
inconvenience.
"If you hadn't been in front of that horrid old restaurant just
when I was passing," she continued, "all this would never have
happened. But you were there, and you asked me to come in and
have a bite with you; and I did, and there you are."
"Yes, there I am," assented Jimmy dismally. There was no doubt
about where he was now, but where was he going to end? That was
the question. "See here," he exclaimed with fast growing
uneasiness, "I don't like being mixed up in this sort of thing."
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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 Spirit of the Border by Zane Grey: river, the forest, the Indians--everything in connection with this wild life;
but already he had learned that questioning these frontiersmen is a sure means
of closing their lips.
"Ever handle the long rifle?" asked Lynn, after a silence.
"Yes," answered Joe, simply.
"Ever shoot anythin'?" the frontiersman questioned, when he had taken four or
five puffs at his pipe.
"Squirrels."
"Good practice, shootin' squirrels," observed Jeff, after another silence,
long enough to allow Joe to talk if he was so inclined. "Kin ye hit one--say,
a hundred yards?"
The Spirit of the Border |
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 Jerusalem Delivered by Torquato Tasso: From top to toe all clad in armor good,
Who brandishing a broad and cutting sword,
Thus threatened death with many an idle word.
XXXII
"O thou, whom chance or will brings to the soil,
Where fair Armida doth the sceptre guide,
Thou canst not fly, of arms thyself despoil,
And let thy hands with iron chains be tied;
Enter and rest thee from thy weary toil.
Within this dungeon shalt thou safe abide,
And never hope again to see the day,
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