| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Of The Nature of Things by Lucretius: When it hath gone into our marrow-bones,
Sets us convulsively, despite ourselves,
A-shivering and a-shaking. Therefore, men
With two-fold terror bustle in alarm
Through cities to and fro: they fear the roofs
Above the head; and underfoot they dread
The caverns, lest the nature of the earth
Suddenly rend them open, and she gape,
Herself asunder, with tremendous maw,
And, all confounded, seek to chock it full
With her own ruins. Let men, then, go on
Of The Nature of Things |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain: Now appeared Joe Harper, as airily clad and elab-
orately armed as Tom. Tom called:
"Hold! Who comes here into Sherwood Forest
without my pass?"
"Guy of Guisborne wants no man's pass. Who
art thou that -- that --"
"Dares to hold such language," said Tom, prompt-
ing -- for they talked "by the book," from memory.
"Who art thou that dares to hold such language?"
"I, indeed! I am Robin Hood, as thy caitiff carcase
soon shall know."
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Touchstone by Edith Wharton: two avenues.
"How she would have hated it!" he murmured.
A bench stood near and he seated himself. The monument rose
before him like some pretentious uninhabited dwelling; he could
not believe that Margaret Aubyn lay there. It was a Sunday
morning and black figures moved among the paths, placing flowers
on the frost-bound hillocks. Glennard noticed that the
neighboring graves had been thus newly dressed; and he fancied a
blind stir of expectancy through the sod, as though the bare
mounds spread a parched surface to that commemorative rain. He
rose presently and walked back to the entrance of the cemetery.
|
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 The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald: exciting things hovering in the next hour.
I told her how I had stopped off in Chicago for a day on my way East,
and how a dozen people had sent their love through me.
"Do they miss me?" she cried ecstatically.
"The whole town is desolate. All the cars have the left rear wheel
painted black as a mourning wreath, and there's a persistent wail all
night along the north shore."
"How gorgeous! Let's go back, Tom. To-morrow!" Then she added
irrelevantly: "You ought to see the baby."
"I'd like to."
"She's asleep. She's three years old. Haven't you ever seen her?"
The Great Gatsby |
