| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Misalliance by George Bernard Shaw: LORD SUMMERHAYS. It's not alone that. Ive not forgotten the
brutality of my own boyhood. But do try to learn, glorious young
beast that you are, that age is squeamish, sentimental, fastidious.
If you cant understand my holier feelings, at least you know the
bodily infirmities of the old. You know that I darent eat all the
rich things you gobble up at every meal; that I cant bear the noise
and racket and clatter that affect you no more than they affect a
stone. Well, my soul is like that too. Spare it: be gentle with it
_[he involuntarily puts out his hands to plead: she takes them with a
laugh]._ If you could possibly think of me as half an angel and half
an invalid, we should get on much better together.
|
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 Within the Tides by Joseph Conrad: whereas Bamtz was, not to mince words, an abject sort of creature.
On the other hand, that bearded loafer, who looked much more like a
pirate than a bookkeeper, was not a brute. He was gentle - rather
- even in his cups. And then, despair, like misfortune, makes us
acquainted with strange bed-fellows. For she may well have
despaired. She was no longer young - you know.
"On the man's side this conjunction is more difficult to explain,
perhaps. One thing, however, must be said of Bamtz; he had always
kept clear of native women. As one can't suspect him of moral
delicacy, I surmise that it must have been from prudence. And he,
too, was no longer young. There were many white hairs in his
Within the Tides |
