| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Madam How and Lady Why by Charles Kingsley: water-chisel into deep glens, mighty cliffs, sharp peaks, such as
you see aloft, and making the old hills beautiful once more. Why,
even the Alps in Switzerland have been carved out by frost and
rain, out of some great flat. The very peak of the Matterhorn, of
which you have so often seen a picture, is but one single point
left of some enormous bun of rock. All the rest has been carved
away by rain and frost; and some day the Matterhorn itself will be
carved away, and its last stone topple into the glacier at its
foot. See, as we have been talking, we have got into the woods.
Oh, what beautiful woods, just like our own.
Not quite. There are some things growing here which do not grow
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift: may flea the carcass; the skin of which, artificially dressed,
will make admirable gloves for ladies, and summer boots for fine
gentlemen.
As to our City of Dublin, shambles may be appointed for this
purpose, in the most convenient parts of it, and butchers we may
be assured will not be wanting; although I rather recommend
buying the children alive, and dressing them hot from the knife,
as we do roasting pigs.
A very worthy person, a true lover of his country, and whose
virtues I highly esteem, was lately pleased, in discoursing on
this matter, to offer a refinement upon my scheme. He said, that
A Modest Proposal |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Children of the Night by Edwin Arlington Robinson: There's a moan across the lowland and a wailing through the woodland
Of a dirge that sings to send us back to the arms of those that love us.
There is nothing left but ashes now where the crimson chills of autumn
Put off the summer's languor with a touch that made us glad
For the glory that is gone from us, with a flight we cannot follow,
To the slopes of other valleys and the sounds of other shores.
Come away! come away! you can hear them calling, calling,
Calling us to come to them, and roam no more.
Over there beyond the ridges and the land that lies between us,
There's an old song calling us to come!
Come away! come away! -- for the scenes we leave behind us
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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 Twenty Years After by Alexandre Dumas: Porthos, who had lost the fifty pistoles he had won the
night before and thirty more besides, was very cross and
questioned D'Artagnan with a nudge of the knee as to whether
it would not soon be time to change the game. Athos and
Aramis looked at him inquiringly. But D'Artagnan remained
impassible.
It struck ten. They heard the guard going its rounds.
"How many rounds do they make a night?" asked D'Artagnan,
drawing more pistoles from his pocket.
"Five," answered Groslow, "one every two hours."
D'Artagnan glanced at Athos and Aramis and for the first
Twenty Years After |
