| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from O Pioneers! by Willa Cather: self. In the first days of their love she had been
his slave; she had admired him abandonedly.
But the moment he began to bully her and to be
unjust, she began to draw away; at first in tear-
ful amazement, then in quiet, unspoken dis-
gust. The distance between them had widened
and hardened. It no longer contracted and
brought them suddenly together. The spark of
her life went somewhere else, and he was always
watching to surprise it. He knew that some-
where she must get a feeling to live upon, for
O Pioneers! |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Ion by Plato: not of one theme only, but of all; and therefore God takes away the minds
of poets, and uses them as his ministers, as he also uses diviners and holy
prophets, in order that we who hear them may know them to be speaking not
of themselves who utter these priceless words in a state of
unconsciousness, but that God himself is the speaker, and that through them
he is conversing with us. And Tynnichus the Chalcidian affords a striking
instance of what I am saying: he wrote nothing that any one would care to
remember but the famous paean which is in every one's mouth, one of the
finest poems ever written, simply an invention of the Muses, as he himself
says. For in this way the God would seem to indicate to us and not allow
us to doubt that these beautiful poems are not human, or the work of man,
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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 Arizona Nights by Stewart Edward White: but not branded. Every owner has a certain brand, as you know,
and then he crops and slits the ears in a certain way, too. In
that manner he don't have to look at the brand, except to
corroborate the ears; and, as the critter generally sticks his
ears up inquirin'-like to anyone ridin' up, it's easy to know the
brand without lookin' at it, merely from the ear-marks. Once in
a great while, when a man comes across an unbranded calf, and it
ain't handy to build a fire, he just ear-marks it and let's the
brandin' go till later. But it isn't done often, and our outfit
had strict orders never to make sleepers.
Well, one day in the spring, as I say, Larry and me was ridin',
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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 Sons and Lovers by D. H. Lawrence: were covered with earth. He was rather small, rather formal,
for a farmer. He glanced at Paul, nodded to him distantly,
and said:
"Dinner ready?"
"Nearly, Edgar," replied the mother apologetically.
"I'm ready for mine," said the young man, taking up the newspaper
and reading. Presently the rest of the family trooped in.
Dinner was served. The meal went rather brutally. The over-gentleness
and apologetic tone of the mother brought out all the brutality
of manners in the sons. Edgar tasted the potatoes, moved his mouth
quickly like a rabbit, looked indignantly at his mother, and said:
Sons and Lovers |
