| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy: of a sperrit. But there seems something wrong to-night, my dear.
Husband cross?"
"No. He never is. He's gone to bed early."
"Then what is it?"
"I cannot tell you. I have done wrong to-day. And I want to eradicate
it.... Well--I will tell you this--Jude has been here this afternoon,
and I find I still love him--oh, grossly! I cannot tell you more."
"Ah!" said the widow. "I told 'ee how 'twould be!"
"But it shan't be! I have not told my husband of his visit;
it is not necessary to trouble him about it, as I never mean
to see Jude any more. But I am going to make my conscience right
Jude the Obscure |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Expression of Emotion in Man and Animals by Charles Darwin: `Dictionary of English Etymology,' 2nd edit. 1872, p. xxxvii. He shows
by intermediate forms that the sounds here referred to have probably given
rise to many words, such as _ugly, huge_, &c. _Conclusion_.--I have now
endeavoured to describe the diversified expressions of fear, in its gradations
from mere attention to a start of surprise, into extreme terror and horror.
Some of the signs may be accounted for through the principles of habit,
association, and inheritance,--such as the wide opening of the mouth and eyes,
with upraised eyebrows, so as to see as quickly as possible all around us,
and to hear distinctly whatever sound may reach our ears. For we have
thus habitually prepared ourselves to discover and encounter any danger.
Some of the other signs of fear may likewise be accounted for, at least
Expression of Emotion in Man and Animals |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Art of Writing by Robert Louis Stevenson: else. The newspapers that told of the return of our
representatives from Berlin, even if they had not differed as
to the facts, would have sufficiently differed by their
spirits; so that the one description would have been a second
ovation, and the other a prolonged insult. The subject makes
but a trifling part of any piece of literature, and the view
of the writer is itself a fact more important because less
disputable than the others. Now this spirit in which a
subject is regarded, important in all kinds of literary work,
becomes all-important in works of fiction, meditation, or
rhapsody; for there it not only colours but itself chooses
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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 Hellenica by Xenophon: Mitylene in Lesbos, and with him two of the ten generals, Leon and
Erasinides. Callicratidas, pursuing him with one hundred and seventy
sail, entered the harbour simultaneously; and Conon thus hindered from
further or final escape by the too rapid movements of the enemy, was
forced to engage inside the harbour, and lost thirty of his ships,
though the crews escaped to land. The remaining, forty in number, he
hauled up under the walls of the town. Callicratidas, on his side,
came to moorings in the harbour; and, having command of the exit,
blocked the Athenian within. His next step was to send for the
Methymnaeans in force by land, and to transport his army across from
Chios. Money also came to him from Cyrus.
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