| 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: sound commonly reminds us that we are growing rusty and antique
in our employments and habits of thoughts. His philosophy comes
down to a more recent time than ours. There is something
suggested by it that is a newer testament,--the gospel according
to this moment. He has not fallen astern; he has got up early and
kept up early, and to be where he is is to be in season, in the
foremost rank of time. It is an expression of the health and
soundness of Nature, a brag for all the world,--healthiness as of
a spring burst forth, a new fountain of the Muses, to celebrate
this last instant of time. Where he lives no fugitive slave laws
are passed. Who has not betrayed his master many times since last
Walking |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Mad King by Edgar Rice Burroughs: knelt Leopold of Lutha, his hands outstretched in supplica-
tion.
The long night wore its weary way to dawn at last. The
sleepless man, alternately tossing upon his bed and pacing
the floor, looked fearfully from time to time at the window
through which the lightening of the sky would proclaim the
coming day and his last hour on earth. His windows faced
the west. At the foot of the hill beneath the castle nestled
the village of Blentz, once more enveloped in peaceful si-
lence since the Austrians were gone.
An unmistakable lessening of the darkness in the east
The Mad King |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Poems by T. S. Eliot: The yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the window-panes
Licked its tongue into the corners of the evening,
Lingered upon the pools that stand in drains,
Let fall upon its back the soot that falls from chimneys,
Slipped by the terrace, made a sudden leap,
And seeing that it was a soft October night,
Curled once about the house, and fell asleep.
And indeed there will be time
For the yellow smoke that slides along the street,
Rubbing its back upon the window panes;
There will be time, there will be time
|
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 Youth by Joseph Conrad: ent cruising. I would make land by myself. I would
beat the other boats. Youth! All youth! The silly,
charming, beautiful youth.
"But we did not make a start at once. We must see
the last of the ship. And so the boats drifted about that
night, heaving and setting on the swell. The men dozed,
waked, sighed, groaned. I looked at the burning ship.
"Between the darkness of earth and heaven she was
burning fiercely upon a disc of purple sea shot by the
blood-red play of gleams; upon a disc of water glitter-
ing and sinister. A high, clear flame, an immense and
Youth |
