| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson: he should have thus saved himself from such a pass. And yet,
when the captain brought him into the round-house, and I set eyes
on him for the first time, he looked as cool as I did.
He was smallish in stature, but well set and as nimble as a goat;
his face was of a good open expression, but sunburnt very dark,
and heavily freckled and pitted with the small-pox; his eyes were
unusually light and had a kind of dancing madness in them, that
was both engaging and alarming; and when he took off his
great-coat, he laid a pair of fine silver-mounted pistols on the
table, and I saw that he was belted with a great sword. His
manners, besides, were elegant, and he pledged the captain
Kidnapped |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Some Reminiscences by Joseph Conrad: life), from the moment I had, in the simplicity of my heart and
the amazing ignorance of my mind, written that page the die was
cast. Never had Rubicon been more blindly forded, without
invocation to the gods, without fear of men.
That morning I got up from my breakfast, pushing the chair back,
and rang the bell violently, or perhaps I should say resolutely,
or perhaps I should say eagerly, I do not know. But manifestly
it must have been a special ring of the bell, a common sound made
impressive, like the ringing of a bell for the raising of the
curtain upon a new scene. It was an unusual thing for me to do.
Generally, I dawdled over my breakfast and I solemn took the
Some Reminiscences |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Aspern Papers by Henry James: very small and shrunken, bent forward, with her hands in her lap.
She was dressed in black, and her head was wrapped in a piece
of old black lace which showed no hair.
My emotion keeping me silent she spoke first, and the remark
she made was exactly the most unexpected.
III
"Our house is very far from the center, but the little canal
is very comme il faut."
"It's the sweetest corner of Venice and I can imagine nothing more charming,"
I hastened to reply. The old lady's voice was very thin and weak, but it
had an agreeable, cultivated murmur, and there was wonder in the thought
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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 Laches by Plato: their sons for the improvement of their minds?
LACHES: Very true.
SOCRATES: Then must we not first know the nature of virtue? For how can
we advise any one about the best mode of attaining something of which we
are wholly ignorant?
LACHES: I do not think that we can, Socrates.
SOCRATES: Then, Laches, we may presume that we know the nature of virtue?
LACHES: Yes.
SOCRATES: And that which we know we must surely be able to tell?
LACHES: Certainly.
SOCRATES: I would not have us begin, my friend, with enquiring about the
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