| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Turn of the Screw by Henry James: "they don't much count, do they?"
I made the best of it, but I felt wan.
"It depends on what you call `much'!"
"Yes"--with all accommodation--"everything depends!"
On this, however, he faced to the window again and presently
reached it with his vague, restless, cogitating step.
He remained there awhile, with his forehead against the glass,
in contemplation of the stupid shrubs I knew and the dull
things of November. I had always my hypocrisy of "work,"
behind which, now, I gained the sofa. Steadying myself
with it there as I had repeatedly done at those moments
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Aeneid by Virgil: Not hostile fleets, but your own hopes, you burn,
And on your friends your fatal fury turn.
Behold your own Ascanius!" While he said,
He drew his glitt'ring helmet from his head,
In which the youths to sportful arms he led.
By this, Aeneas and his train appear;
And now the women, seiz'd with shame and fear,
Dispers'd, to woods and caverns take their flight,
Abhor their actions, and avoid the light;
Their friends acknowledge, and their error find,
And shake the goddess from their alter'd mind.
Aeneid |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Protagoras by Plato: same thing. And yet when he blames him who says the same with himself, he
blames himself; so that he must be wrong either in his first or his second
assertion.
Many of the audience cheered and applauded this. And I felt at first giddy
and faint, as if I had received a blow from the hand of an expert boxer,
when I heard his words and the sound of the cheering; and to confess the
truth, I wanted to get time to think what the meaning of the poet really
was. So I turned to Prodicus and called him. Prodicus, I said, Simonides
is a countryman of yours, and you ought to come to his aid. I must appeal
to you, like the river Scamander in Homer, who, when beleaguered by
Achilles, summons the Simois to aid him, saying:
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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 Poor and Proud by Oliver Optic: commercial transaction. Visions of wealth, a fine house, and silk
dresses for her mother and herself, danced through her excited
brain, and she thought that her grandfather, the great Liverpool
merchant, would not have been ashamed of her if he had been
present to witness that magnificent operation.
"Have you any paper to wrap it up in?" asked the gentleman.
Here was an emergency for which Katy had not provided. Her
grandest expectations had not extended beyond the sale of one
stick at a time, and she was not prepared for such a rush of
trade. However, she tore off a piece from one of the white sheets
at the bottom of the tray, wrapped up the six sticks as nicely as
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