| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy: come to me. That in the event of your present wife's death
you will place me in her position is a consolation so far as
it goes--but how far does it go? Thus I sit here, forsaken
by my few acquaintance, and forsaken by you!'"
"That's how she went on to me," said Henchard, "acres of
words like that, when what had happened was what I could not
cure."
"Yes," said Farfrae absently, "it is the way wi' women." But
the fact was that he knew very little of the sex; yet
detecting a sort of resemblance in style between the
effusions of the woman he worshipped and those of the
The Mayor of Casterbridge |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte: coolly till he chose to speak.
'Sit down, sir,' he said, at length. 'Mrs. Linton, recalling old
times, would have me give you a cordial reception; and, of course,
I am gratified when anything occurs to please her.'
'And I also,' answered Heathcliff, 'especially if it be anything in
which I have a part. I shall stay an hour or two willingly.'
He took a seat opposite Catherine, who kept her gaze fixed on him
as if she feared he would vanish were she to remove it. He did not
raise his to her often: a quick glance now and then sufficed; but
it flashed back, each time more confidently, the undisguised
delight he drank from hers. They were too much absorbed in their
Wuthering Heights |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Unconscious Comedians by Honore de Balzac: named Cabot, a young wig-maker devoured by ambition, came to Paris,
and set up a shop (I use your slang). This man of genius,--he now has
an income of twenty-four thousand francs a year, and lives, retired
from business, at Libourne,--well, he saw that so vulgar and ignoble a
name as Cabot could never attain celebrity. Monsieur de Parny, whose
hair he cut, gave him the name of Marius, infinitely superior, you
perceive, to the Christian names of Armand and Hippolyte, behind which
patronymics attacked by the Cabot evil are wont to hide. All the
successors of Cabot have called themselves Marius. The present Marius
is Marius V.; his real name is Mongin. This occurs in various other
trades; for 'Botot water,' and for 'Little-Virtue' ink. Names become
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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 Bucolics by Virgil: Among the willows, 'neath the limber vine,
Reclining would my love have lain with me,
Phyllis plucked garlands, or Amyntas sung.
Here are cool springs, soft mead and grove, Lycoris;
Here might our lives with time have worn away.
But me mad love of the stern war-god holds
Armed amid weapons and opposing foes.
Whilst thou- Ah! might I but believe it not!-
Alone without me, and from home afar,
Look'st upon Alpine snows and frozen Rhine.
Ah! may the frost not hurt thee, may the sharp
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