| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Wrong Box by Stevenson & Osbourne: chimney, the physical obstacles were insurmountable. To get it on
board a train and drop it out, or on the top of an omnibus and
drop it off, were equally out of the question. To get it on a
yacht and drop it overboard, was more conceivable; but for a man
of moderate means it seemed extravagant. The hire of the yacht
was in itself a consideration; the subsequent support of the
whole crew (which seemed a necessary consequence) was simply not
to be thought of. His uncle and the houseboat here occurred in
very luminous colours to his mind. A musical composer (say, of
the name of Jimson) might very well suffer, like Hogarth's
musician before him, from the disturbances of London. He might
|
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 Moby Dick by Herman Melville: part about him. So that with ease he elevates it in the air, and
invariably does so when going at his utmost speed. Besides, such is
the breadth of the upper part of the front of his head, and such the
tapering cut-water formation of the lower part, that by obliquely
elevating his head, he thereby may be said to transform himself from
a bluff-bowed sluggish galliot into a sharppointed New York
pilot-boat.
"Start her, start her, my men! Don't hurry yourselves; take plenty
of time--but start her; start her like thunder-claps, that's all,"
cried Stubb, spluttering out the smoke as he spoke. "Start her, now;
give 'em the long and strong stroke, Tashtego. Start her, Tash, my
Moby Dick |
