| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Poor and Proud by Oliver Optic: sorry I had to thrash him though I think it will do him good."
"I was afraid he'd hurt you. You were very kind to save me from
him, Tommy. I shall never forget you, as long as I live, and I
hope I shall be able to do something for you one of these days."
"Oh, don't mind that, Katy. He is an ugly fellow, and I wouldn't
stand by and see him insult a girl. But I must go now. I told
Johnny if he ever meddled with you again I should give him some;
if he does, just let me know."
"I hope he won't again," replied Katy, as Tommy moved towards
home.
This was Katy's first day in mercantile life; it had been full of
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from 1984 by George Orwell: names of streets--anything that might throw light upon the past had been
systematically altered.
'I never knew it had been a church,' he said.
'There's a lot of them left, really,' said the old man, 'though they've
been put to other uses. Now, how did that rhyme go? Ah! I've got it!
"Oranges and lemons, say the bells of St Clement's,
You owe me three farthings, say the bells of St Martin's----"
there, now, that's as far as I can get. A farthing, that was a small copper
coin, looked something like a cent.'
'Where was St Martin's?' said Winston.
'St Martin's? That's still standing. It's in Victory Square, alongside the
1984 |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Tales of Unrest by Joseph Conrad: J. C.
TALES OF UNREST
KARAIN A MEMORY
I
We knew him in those unprotected days when we were content to hold in
our hands our lives and our property. None of us, I believe, has any
property now, and I hear that many, negligently, have lost their
lives; but I am sure that the few who survive are not yet so dim-eyed
as to miss in the befogged respectability of their newspapers the
intelligence of various native risings in the Eastern Archipelago.
Sunshine gleams between the lines of those short paragraphs--sunshine
Tales of Unrest |
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 Moral Emblems by Robert Louis Stevenson: see
MORAL TALES
I. ROBIN AND BEN: OR, THE PIRATE AND THE APOTHECARY - Come, lend
me an attentive ear
II. THE BUILDER'S DOOM - In eighteen-twenty Deacon Thin
***
NOT I, AND OTHER POEMS
Poem: NOT I
Some like drink
In a pint pot,
Some like to think;
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