| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Lone Star Ranger by Zane Grey: there was always a charged atmosphere. The merriest, idlest,
most careless moment might in the flash of an eye end in
ruthless and tragic action. In an assemblage of desperate
characters it could not be otherwise. The terrible thing that
Duane sensed was this. The valley was beautiful, sunny,
fragrant, a place to dream in; the mountaintops were always
blue or gold rimmed, the yellow river slid slowly and
majestically by, the birds sang in the cottonwoods, the horses
grazed and pranced, children played and women longed for love,
freedom, happiness; the outlaws rode in and out, free with
money and speech; they lived comfortably in their adobe homes,
The Lone Star Ranger |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Bucky O'Connor by William MacLeod Raine: picturesque in its diversity. For here had drifted not only the
stranded derelicts of a frontier civilization, but selected types
of all the turbid elements that go to make up its success.
Mexican, millionaire, and miner brushed shoulders at the
roulette-wheel. Chinaman and cow-puncher, Papago and plainsman,
tourist and tailor, bucked the tiger side by side with a
democracy found nowhere else in the world. The click of the
wheel, the monotonous call of the croupier, the murmur of many
voices in alien tongues, and the high-pitched jarring note of
boisterous laughter, were all merged in a medley of confusion as
picturesque as the scene itself.
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Turn of the Screw by Henry James: VI
It took of course more than that particular passage to place us
together in presence of what we had now to live with as we could--
my dreadful liability to impressions of the order so vividly
exemplified, and my companion's knowledge, henceforth--a knowledge
half consternation and half compassion--of that liability.
There had been, this evening, after the revelation left me,
for an hour, so prostrate--there had been, for either of us,
no attendance on any service but a little service of tears and vows,
of prayers and promises, a climax to the series of mutual challenges
and pledges that had straightway ensued on our retreating together to
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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 Idylls of the King by Alfred Tennyson: And called for flesh and wine to feed his spears.
And men brought in whole hogs and quarter beeves,
And all the hall was dim with steam of flesh:
And none spake word, but all sat down at once,
And ate with tumult in the naked hall,
Feeding like horses when you hear them feed;
Till Enid shrank far back into herself,
To shun the wild ways of the lawless tribe.
But when Earl Doorm had eaten all he would,
He rolled his eyes about the hall, and found
A damsel drooping in a corner of it.
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