| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Ivanhoe by Walter Scott: little which can positively be termed modern;
but, on the other hand, it is extremely probable
that I may have confused the manners of
two or three centuries, and introduced, during
the reign of Richard the First, circumstances
appropriated to a period either considerably
earlier, or a good deal later than that era. It
is my comfort, that errors of this kind will
escape the general class of readers, and that
I may share in the ill-deserved applause of
those architects, who, in their modern Gothic,
Ivanhoe |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Wyoming by William MacLeod Raine: stuck hopelessly. He looked enviously across at Bannister, whose
pencil was traveling rapidly down his note-book.
"My, what a swift trail your pencil leaves on that paper. That's
going some. Mine's bogged down before it got started. I wisht y'u
would start me off."
"Well, if you ain't up and started a business college already. I
had ought to have brought a typewriter along with me," murmured
Missou ironically.
"How are things stacking? Our friends the enemy getting busy
yet?" asked Bannister, folding and addressing his note.
"That's what. Orders gone out to guard every road so as not to
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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 Mysterious Island by Jules Verne: will try to get out of the scrape with the help of its inhabitants; if it
is desert, we will try to get out of the scrape by ourselves."
"Certainly, nothing could be plainer," replied Pencroft.
"But, whether it is an island or a continent," asked Gideon Spilett,
"whereabouts do you think, Cyrus, this storm has thrown us?"
"I cannot say exactly," replied the engineer, "but I presume it is some
land in the Pacific. In fact, when we left Richmond, the wind was blowing
from the northeast, and its very violence greatly proves that it could not
have varied. If the direction has been maintained from the northeast to the
southwest, we have traversed the States of North Carolina, of South
Carolina, of Georgia, the Gulf of Mexico, Mexico, itself, in its narrow
The Mysterious Island |
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 Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald: Suddenly Mr. Sloane and the lady walked down the steps and mounted
their horses.
"Come on," said Mr. Sloane to Tom, "we're late. We've got to go." And then
to me: "Tell him we couldn't wait, will you?"
Tom and I shook hands, the rest of us exchanged a cool nod, and
they trotted quickly down the drive, disappearing under the August
foliage just as Gatsby, with hat and light overcoat in hand, came out
the front door.
Tom was evidently perturbed at Daisy's running around alone, for on the
following Saturday night he came with her to Gatsby's party. Perhaps
his presence gave the evening its peculiar quality of oppressiveness--it
The Great Gatsby |
