| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Black Dwarf by Walter Scott: and from a piece of wild moorland made a very productive spot,
was his pride and his delight; but he was also an admirer of more
natural beauty: the soft sweep of the green hill, the bubbling
of a clear fountain, or the complexities of a wild thicket, were
scenes on which he often gazed for hours, and, as he said, with
inexpressible delight. It was perhaps for this reason that he
was fond of Shenstone's pastorals, and some parts of PARADISE
LOST. The author has heard his most unmusical voice repeat the
celebrated description of Paradise, which he seemed fully to
appreciate. His other studies were of a different cast, chiefly
polemical. He never went to the parish church, and was therefore
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Almayer's Folly by Joseph Conrad: filled her heart with so much joy and so much pride? And in the
great tumult of passion, like a flash of lightning came to her
the reminiscence of that despised and almost forgotten
civilisation she had only glanced at in her days of restraint, of
sorrow, and of anger. In the cold ashes of that hateful and
miserable past she would find the sign of love, the fitting
expression of the boundless felicity of the present, the pledge
of a bright and splendid future. She threw her arms around
Dain's neck and pressed her lips to his in a long and burning
kiss. He closed his eyes, surprised and frightened at the storm
raised in his breast by the strange and to him hitherto unknown
Almayer's Folly |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy: second later.
"Puff! puff!"- and two clouds arose pushing one another and blending
together; and "boom, boom!" came the sounds confirming what the eye
had seen.
Pierre glanced round at the first cloud, which he had seen as a
round compact ball, and in its place already were balloons of smoke
floating to one side, and- "puff" (with a pause)- "puff, puff!"
three and then four more appeared and then from each, with the same
interval- "boom- boom, boom!" came the fine, firm, precise sounds in
reply. It seemed as if those smoke clouds sometimes ran and
sometimes stood still while woods, fields, and glittering bayonets ran
War and Peace |
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 Bureaucracy by Honore de Balzac: felt, on reading words which compelled him to whom they were addressed
to obey, yet gave no order, the presence of the implacable money-
lender of the rue des Gres. Like a dog called to heel by the huntsman,
des Lupeaulx left his present quest and went immediately to his own
rooms, thinking of his hazardous position. Imagine a general to whom
an aide-de-camp rides up and says: "The enemy with thirty thousand
fresh troops is attacking on our right flank."
A very few words will serve to explain this sudden arrival of Gigonnet
and Gobseck on the field of battle,--for des Lupeaulx found them both
waiting. At eight o'clock that evening, Martin Falleix, returning on
the wings of the wind,--thanks to three francs to the postboys and a
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