| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Cousin Pons by Honore de Balzac: or eight times a day? And even now if I liked--Look here, sir, you
know that little scrubby marine store-dealer downstairs? Very well, he
would marry me any day, if I were a widow that is, with his eyes shut;
he has had them looking wide open in my direction so often; he is
always saying, 'Oh! what fine arms you have, Ma'am Cibot!--I dreamed
last night that it was bread and I was butter, and I was spread on the
top.' Look, sir, there is an arm!"
She rolled up her sleeve and displayed the shapeliest arm imaginable,
as white and fresh as her hand was red and rough; a plump, round,
dimpled arm, drawn from its merino sheath like a blade from the
scabbard to dazzle Pons, who looked away.
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from King Henry VI by William Shakespeare: I girt thee with the valiant sword of York:
Rise, Richard, like a true Plantagenet,
And rise created princely Duke of York.
PLANTAGENET.
And so thrive Richard as thy foes may fall!
And as my duty springs, so perish they
That grudge one thought against your majesty!
ALL.
Welcome, high prince, the mighty Duke of York!
SOMERSET.
[Aside] Perish, base prince, ignoble Duke of York!
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Eugenie Grandet by Honore de Balzac: is love from the moment they set their feet within the enchanted
regions of that passion. They walk there bathed in a celestial light
shed from their own souls, which reflects its rays upon their lover;
they color all with the flame of their own emotion and attribute to
him their highest thoughts. A woman's errors come almost always from
her belief in good or her confidence in truth. In Eugenie's simple
heart the words, "My dear Annette, my loved one," echoed like the
sweetest language of love; they caressed her soul as, in childhood,
the divine notes of the /Venite adoremus/, repeated by the organ,
caressed her ear. Moreover, the tears which still lingered on the
young man's lashes gave signs of that nobility of heart by which young
Eugenie Grandet |
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 Turn of the Screw by Henry James: and verse; I mean I can express no otherwise the sort of interest
my companions inspired. How can I describe that except by saying that
instead of growing used to them--and it's a marvel for a governess:
I call the sisterhood to witness!--I made constant fresh discoveries.
There was one direction, assuredly, in which these discoveries stopped:
deep obscurity continued to cover the region of the boy's conduct at school.
It had been promptly given me, I have noted, to face that mystery without
a pang. Perhaps even it would be nearer the truth to say that--without
a word--he himself had cleared it up. He had made the whole charge absurd.
My conclusion bloomed there with the real rose flush of his innocence:
he was only too fine and fair for the little horrid, unclean school world,
|
