| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Children of the Night by Edwin Arlington Robinson: Ballade of Broken Flutes
Ballade of Dead Friends
Her Eyes
Two Men
Villanelle of Change
John Evereldown
Luke Havergal
The House on the Hill
Richard Cory
Two Octaves
Calvary
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Enchanted Island of Yew by L. Frank Baum: grass beneath his horse's feet being sprinkled with bright flowers,
while clumps of trees stood here and there to break the monotony of
the landscape.
For an hour the prince rode along, rejoicing in the free motion of his
horse and breathing in the perfume-laden air. Then he found he had
crossed the valley and was approaching a series of hills. These were
broken by huge rocks, the ground being cluttered with boulders of
rough stone. His horse speedily found a pathway leading through these
rocks, but was obliged to proceed at a walk, turning first one way and
then another as the path zigzagged up the hill.
Presently, being engaged in deep thought and little noting the way,
The Enchanted Island of Yew |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Beasts of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs: toward him, and learned from them that he was upon the trail
of the Russian.
Two days later, still following up the Ugambi, he came
upon a large village. The chief, a wicked-looking fellow with
the sharp-filed teeth that often denote the cannibal, received
him with apparent friendliness.
The ape-man was now thoroughly fatigued, and had determined
to rest for eight or ten hours that he might be fresh
and strong when he caught up with Rokoff, as he was sure
he must do within a very short time.
The chief told him that the bearded white man had left his
The Beasts of Tarzan |
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 Letters from England by Elizabeth Davis Bancroft: more delightful friend or companion than Lady Ashburton, and I do
not know why, but I had received a different impression of her.
Lord Ashburton, by whom I sat at dinner, struck me as still one of
the wisest men I have seen in England. Lady Ashburton, who was
sitting by Mr. Bancroft, leant forward and said to her husband, "WE
can bring bushels of corn this year to England." "Who do you mean
by WE?" said he. "Why, we Americans, to be sure."
Monday Evening
Yesterday we dined at Count St. Aulair's, the French Ambassador, who
is a charming old man of the old French school, at a sort of
amicable dinner given to Lord and Lady Palmerston. Lord John
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