| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from What is Man? by Mark Twain: more show and no more noise than does the circulation of the
blood.
There is another thing which is contentingly noticeable in
Mr. Howells's books. That is his "stage directions"--those
artifices which authors employ to throw a kind of human
naturalness around a scene and a conversation, and help the
reader to see the one and get at meanings in the other which
might not be perceived if entrusted unexplained to the bare words
of the talk. Some authors overdo the stage directions, they
elaborate them quite beyond necessity; they spend so much time
and take up so much room in telling us how a person said a thing
What is Man? |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Sons and Lovers by D. H. Lawrence: It was her restoration and her recognition.
Then he looked at her, his face radiant. They laughed to
each other, and he strained her to his chest. The seconds ticked off,
the minutes passed, and still the two stood clasped rigid together,
mouth to mouth, like a statue in one block.
But again his fingers went seeking over her, restless,
wandering, dissatisfied. The hot blood came up wave upon wave.
She laid her head on his shoulder.
"Come you to my room," he murmured.
She looked at him and shook her head, her mouth pouting
disconsolately, her eyes heavy with passion. He watched her fixedly.
Sons and Lovers |
