| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Walking by Henry David Thoreau: culture, in short, can give. Mythology comes nearer to it than
anything. How much more fertile a Nature, at least, has Grecian
mythology its root in than English literature! Mythology is the
crop which the Old World bore before its soil was exhausted,
before the fancy and imagination were affected with blight; and
which it still bears, wherever its pristine vigor is unabated.
All other literatures endure only as the elms which overshadow
our houses; but this is like the great dragon-tree of the Western
Isles, as old as mankind, and, whether that does or not, will
endure as long; for the decay of other literatures makes the soil
in which it thrives.
Walking |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Village Rector by Honore de Balzac: the sweet tranquillity of the place; he felt the influence of that
pure air; he was conscious of the peace inspired by the revelation of
a life brought back to Biblical simplicity; he saw, confusedly, the
beauties of this old parsonage, which he now re-entered to examine its
details with greater interest.
A little girl, employed, no doubt, to watch the house, though she was
picking and eating fruit in the garden, heard the steps of a man with
creaking shoes on the great square flags of the ground-floor rooms.
She ran in to see who it was. Confused at being caught by a priest
with a fruit in one hand and another in her mouth, she made no answer
to the questions of the handsome young abbe. She had never imagined
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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 The Odyssey by Homer: by those of your followers tell me the truth and nothing but the
truth. Who and whence are you? Tell me also of your town and
parents."
Telemachus said, "I will answer you quite truly. I am from
Ithaca, and my father is Ulysses, as surely as that he ever
lived. But he has come to some miserable end. Therefore I have
taken this ship and got my crew together to see if I can hear
any news of him, for he has been away a long time."
"I too," answered Theoclymenus, "am an exile, for I have killed
a man of my own race. He has many brothers and kinsmen in Argos,
and they have great power among the Argives. I am flying to
The Odyssey |
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 Reef by Edith Wharton: was brought to him. He handed the telegram to Anna, and she
learned that his Ambassador, on the way to a German cure,
was to be in Paris the next evening and wished to confer
with him there before he went back to London. The idea that
the decisive moment was at hand was so agitating to her that
when luncheon was over she slipped away to the terrace and
thence went down alone to the garden. The day was grey but
mild, with the heaviness of decay in the air. She rambled
on aimlessly, following under the denuded boughs the path
she and Darrow had taken on their first walk to the river.
She was sure he would not try to overtake her: sure he would
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