| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from De Profundis by Oscar Wilde: world is a song. I remember saying once to Andre Gide, as we sat
together in some Paris CAFE, that while meta-physics had but little
real interest for me, and morality absolutely none, there was
nothing that either Plato or Christ had said that could not be
transferred immediately into the sphere of Art and there find its
complete fulfilment.
Nor is it merely that we can discern in Christ that close union of
personality with perfection which forms the real distinction
between the classical and romantic movement in life, but the very
basis of his nature was the same as that of the nature of the
artist - an intense and flamelike imagination. He realised in the
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Awakening & Selected Short Stories by Kate Chopin: country roads and lanes. The fat, black horses went in a slow,
measured trot, notwithstanding constant urging on the part of the
fat, black coachman. Within the vehicle were seated the fair
Octavie and her old friend and neighbor, Judge Pillier, who had
come to take her for a morning drive.
Octavie wore a plain black dress, severe in its simplicity. A
narrow belt held it at the waist and the sleeves were gathered into
close fitting wristbands. She had discarded her hoopskirt and
appeared not unlike a nun. Beneath the folds of her bodice nestled
the old locket. She never displayed it now. It had returned to
her sanctified in her eyes; made precious as material things
Awakening & Selected Short Stories |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Selected Writings of Guy De Maupassant by Guy De Maupassant: Of the French writers of romance of the latter part of the
nineteenth century no one made a reputation as quickly as did Guy
de Maupassant. Not one has preserved that reputation with more
ease, not only during life, but in death. None so completely
hides his personality in his glory. In an epoch of the utmost
publicity, in which the most insignificant deeds of a celebrated
man are spied, recorded, and commented on, the author of "Boule
de Suif," of "Pierre et Jean," of "Notre Coeur," found a way of
effacing his personality in his work.
Of De Maupassant we know that he was born in Normandy about 1850;
that he was the favorite pupil, if one may so express it, the
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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 Malbone: An Oldport Romance by Thomas Wentworth Higginson: dejection. "You think I am nothing in the world but a sort of
old oyster, making amusement for people, and having no more to
do with real life than oysters have."
"No, dearest!" cried Kate. "You have a great deal to do with
all our lives. You are a dear old insidious sapper-and-miner,
looking at first very inoffensive, and then working your way
into our affections, and spoiling us with coaxing. How you
behave about children, for instance!"
"How?" said the other meekly. "As well as I can."
"But you pretend that you dislike them."
"But I do dislike them. How can anybody help it? Hear them
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