| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Young Forester by Zane Grey: From the way they worked over Buell, I concluded he had been pretty badly
stunned. But he came to presently.
"What struck me?" he asked.
"Oh, nothin'," replied Bud, derisively. "The loft up thar's full of air,
an' it blowed on you, thet's all."
Buell got up, and began walking around.
"Bill, go out an' fetch in some long poles," he said.
When Bill returned with a number of sharp, bayonet-like pikes I knew the
game was all up for me. Several of the men began to prod through the thin
covering of dry brush. One of them reached me, and struck so hard that I
lurched violently.
The Young Forester |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Start in Life by Honore de Balzac: the coach, which greatly affronted both Oscar and Georges.
"When persons want to be master of a coach, they should engage all the
places," remarked Georges.
Certain now of his incognito, the Comte de Serizy made no reply to
this observation, but assumed the air of a good-natured bourgeois.
"Suppose you were late, wouldn't you be glad that the coach waited for
you?" said the farmer to the two young men.
Pierrotin still looked up and down the street, whip in hand,
apparently reluctant to mount to the hard seat where Mistigris was
fidgeting.
"If you expect some one else, I am not the last," said the count.
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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 Mansfield Park by Jane Austen: No happiness of son or niece could make her wish
the marriage. But it was possible to part with her,
because Susan remained to supply her place.
Susan became the stationary niece, delighted to be so;
and equally well adapted for it by a readiness of mind,
and an inclination for usefulness, as Fanny had been
by sweetness of temper, and strong feelings of gratitude.
Susan could never be spared. First as a comfort to Fanny,
then as an auxiliary, and last as her substitute,
she was established at Mansfield, with every appearance
of equal permanency. Her more fearless disposition
Mansfield Park |
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 Idylls of the King by Alfred Tennyson: After the Christ, of those who falling down
Looked up for heaven, and only saw the mist;
And shouts of heathen and the traitor knights,
Oaths, insults, filth, and monstrous blasphemies,
Sweat, writhings, anguish, labouring of the lungs
In that close mist, and cryings for the light,
Moans of the dying, and voices of the dead.
Last, as by some one deathbed after wail
Of suffering, silence follows, or through death
Or deathlike swoon, thus over all that shore,
Save for some whisper of the seething seas,
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