| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Prufrock/Other Observations by T. S. Eliot: "He has pointed ears ... he must be unbalanced,"--
"There was something he said that I might have challenged."
Of dowager Mrs. Phlaccus, and Professor and Mrs. Cheetah
I remember a slice of lemon and a bitten macaroon.
Hysteria
As she laughed I was aware of becoming involved in her laughter and
being part of it, until her teeth were only accidental stars with a
talent for squad-drill. I was drawn in by short gasps, inhaled at
each momentary recovery, lost finally in the dark caverns of her
throat, bruised by the ripple of unseen muscles. An elderly waiter
with trembling hands was hurriedly spreading a pink and white checked
Prufrock/Other Observations |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Economist by Xenophon: "That virtue which transcends the human, and which is of an heroic
or godlike type, such as Priam, in the poems of Homer, ascribes to
Hector, when wishing to speak of his great goodness:
Not woman-born seemed he, but sprung from gods."
And below: "And exactly as it is a rare thing to find a man of
godlike nature--to use the expression of the Spartans, 'a godlike
man,' which they apply to those whom they expressively admire--so,
too, brutality is a type of character rarely found among men"
(Robert Williams).
[7] Reading {etheloponia tis}, or if {philoponia}, transl. "just as
some strange delight in labour may quicken in the heart of many an
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