| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Ballads by Robert Louis Stevenson: Now to the sacred enclosure gathered the greatest and least,
And from under the shade of the banyan arose the voice of the feast,
The frenzied roll of the drum, and a swift, monotonous song.
Higher the sun swam up; the trade wind level and strong
Awoke in the tops of the palms and rattled the fans aloud,
And over the garlanded heads and shining robes of the crowd
Tossed the spiders of shadow, scattered the jewels of sun.
Forty the tale of the drums, and the forty throbbed like one;
A thousand hearts in the crowd, and the even chorus of song,
Swift as the feet of a runner, trampled a thousand strong.
And the old men leered at the ovens and licked their lips for the food;
Ballads |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from My Aunt Margaret's Mirror by Walter Scott: knight, "in regarding such a circumstance with the slightest
interest. But to soothe your flattering anxiety, I trust your
ladyship will recollect that I cannot expose to hazard the
venerable and paternal character which you so obligingly
recommend to my protection, without putting in some peril an
honest fellow, called Philip Forester, with whom I have kept
company for thirty years, and with whom, though some folks
consider him a coxcomb, I have not the least desire to part."
"Well, Sir Philip, you are the best judge of your own affairs. I
have little right to interfere--you are not my husband."
"God forbid!" said Sir Philip hastily; instantly adding,
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin: slowly exterminated. And it is in fresh water that we find seven genera of
Ganoid fishes, remnants of a once preponderant order: and in fresh water
we find some of the most anomalous forms now known in the world, as the
Ornithorhynchus and Lepidosiren, which, like fossils, connect to a certain
extent orders now widely separated in the natural scale. These anomalous
forms may almost be called living fossils; they have endured to the present
day, from having inhabited a confined area, and from having thus been
exposed to less severe competition.
To sum up the circumstances favourable and unfavourable to natural
selection, as far as the extreme intricacy of the subject permits. I
conclude, looking to the future, that for terrestrial productions a large
On the Origin of Species |
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 Purse by Honore de Balzac: before had the old Baroness manifested so ardent a desire to win,
or so keen a joy in fingering the old gentleman's gold pieces.
During the evening evil suspicions troubled Hippolyte's
happiness, and filled him with distrust. Could it be that Madame
de Rouville lived by gambling? Was she playing at this moment to
pay off some debt, or under the pressure of necessity? Perhaps
she had not paid her rent. The old man seemed shrewd enough not
to allow his money to be taken with impunity. What interest
attracted him to this poverty-stricken house, he who was rich?
Why, when he had formerly been so familiar with Adelaide, had he
given up the rights he had acquired, and which were perhaps his
|
