| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Professor by Charlotte Bronte: larger, as well as more antique than Daisy Lane, the property and
residence of an individual familiar both to me and to the reader.
Yes, in Hunsden Wood--for so are those glades and that grey
building, with many gables and more chimneys, named--abides Yorke
Hunsden, still unmarried; never, I suppose, having yet found his
ideal, though I know at least a score of young ladies within a
circuit of forty miles, who would be willing to assist him in the
search.
The estate fell to him by the death of his father, five years
since; he has given up trade, after having made by it sufficient
to pay off some incumbrances by which the family heritage was
The Professor |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Reason Discourse by Rene Descartes: the course of the veins, in the manner of small valves, as not to permit
the blood to pass from the middle of the body towards the extremities, but
only to return from the extremities to the heart; and farther, from
experience which shows that all the blood which is in the body may flow
out of it in a very short time through a single artery that has been cut,
even although this had been closely tied in the immediate neighborhood of
the heart and cut between the heart and the ligature, so as to prevent the
supposition that the blood flowing out of it could come from any other
quarter than the heart.
But there are many other circumstances which evince that what I have
alleged is the true cause of the motion of the blood: thus, in the first
Reason Discourse |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson by Mark Twain: now, all were marvelous. His long fight against hard luck and
prejudice was ended; he was a made man for good.
And as each of these roaring gangs of enthusiasts marched away,
some remorseful member of it was quite sure to raise his
voice and say:
"And this is the man the likes of us have called a
pudd'nhead for more than twenty years. He has resigned from that
position, friends."
"Yes, but it isn't vacant--we're elected."
The twins were heroes of romance, now, and with
rehabilitated reputations. But they were weary of Western
|
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 Hunting of the Snark by Lewis Carroll: Were enough to bewilder a crew.
When he cried "Steer to starboard, but keep her head larboard!"
What on earth was the helmsman to do?
Then the bowsprit got mixed with the rudder sometimes:
A thing, as the Bellman remarked,
That frequently happens in tropical climes,
When a vessel is, so to speak, "snarked."
But the principal failing occurred in the sailing,
And the Bellman, perplexed and distressed,
Said he had hoped, at least, when the wind blew due East,
That the ship would not travel due West!
The Hunting of the Snark |
