| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Unseen World and Other Essays by John Fiske: presented from without. The former is the case with the critical,
and the latter with the artistic intellect. And this we recognize
imperfectly when we talk of a genius being "inspired." All of us
probably have these two kinds of imagination to a certain extent.
It is only given to a few supremely endowed persons like Goethe
to possess them both to an eminent degree. Perhaps of no other
man can it be said that he was a poet of the first order, and as
great a critic as poet.
It is therefore apt to be a barren criticism which studies the
works of creative geniuses in order to ascertain what theory lies
beneath them. How many systems of philosophy, how many subtle
The Unseen World and Other Essays |
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 The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne: aid to enable them to gain possession of Granite House, to penetrate into
that hitherto inaccessible dwelling, and to become masters of the island,
after murdering the colonists!
Ayrton remained firm. The once convict, now repentant and pardoned, would
rather die than betray his companions. Ayrton--bound, gagged, and closely
watched--lived in this cave for four months.
Nevertheless the convicts had discovered the corral a short time after
their arrival in the island, and since then they had subsisted on Ayrton's
stores, but did not live at the corral.
On the 11th of November, two of the villains, surprised by the colonists'
arrival, fired at Herbert, and one of them returned, boasting of having
The Mysterious Island |
