| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Familiar Studies of Men and Books by Robert Louis Stevenson: Thoreau made no fetish of his own example, and did what he
wanted squarely. And five years is long enough for an
experiment and to prove the success of transcendental
Yankeeism. It is not his frugality which is worthy of note;
for, to begin with, that was inborn, and therefore inimitable
by others who are differently constituted; and again, it was
no new thing, but has often been equalled by poor Scotch
students at the universities. The point is the sanity of his
view of life, and the insight with which he recognised the
position of money, and thought out for himself the problem of
riches and a livelihood. Apart from his eccentricities, he
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Moral Emblems by Robert Louis Stevenson: His future joys will much contract,
And he will spoil his evening toddy
By dwelling on that mangled body.
MORAL EMBLEMS II
Poem: I
With storms a-weather, rocks a-lee,
The dancing skiff puts forth to sea.
The lone dissenter in the blast
Recoils before the sight aghast.
But she, although the heavens be black,
Holds on upon the starboard tack,
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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 Jungle Tales of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs: of the primordial apes and the great, white ape-man
with their ancestral foe, Sheeta, the panther.
In frenzied excitement, Teeka fairly danced upon
the limb which swayed beneath her great weight as she
urged on the males of her people, and Thaka, and Mumga,
and Kamma, with the other shes of the tribe of Kerchak,
added their shrill cries or fierce barkings to the
pandemonium which now reigned within the jungle.
Bitten and biting, tearing and torn, Sheeta battled
for his life; but the odds were against him. Even Numa,
the lion, would have hesitated to have attacked an equal
The Jungle Tales of Tarzan |
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 Turn of the Screw by Henry James: Would exasperation, however, if relief had longer been postponed,
finally have betrayed me? It little matters, for relief arrived.
I call it relief, though it was only the relief that a snap brings
to a strain or the burst of a thunderstorm to a day of suffocation.
It was at least change, and it came with a rush.
XIV
Walking to church a certain Sunday morning, I had little Miles at my side
and his sister, in advance of us and at Mrs. Grose's, well in sight.
It was a crisp, clear day, the first of its order for some time;
the night had brought a touch of frost, and the autumn air, bright and sharp,
made the church bells almost gay. It was an odd accident of thought
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