| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Pupil by Henry James: condoning the lapse, which they good-naturedly treated as little as
possible as if it were Pemberton's, should have sounded the rally
again, begged the young coach to renew the siege.
The young coach was now in a position to lend Mrs. Moreen three
louis, and he sent her a post-office order even for a larger
amount. In return for this favour he received a frantic scribbled
line from her: "Implore you to come back instantly - Morgan dread
fully ill." They were on there rebound, once more in Paris - often
as Pemberton had seen them depressed he had never seen them crushed
- and communication was therefore rapid. He wrote to the boy to
ascertain the state of his health, but awaited the answer in vain.
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Alcibiades II by Platonic Imitator: ALCIBIADES: How in the world, Socrates, do the words of the poet apply to
him? They seem to me to have no bearing on the point whatever.
SOCRATES: Quite the contrary, my sweet friend: only the poet is talking
in riddles after the fashion of his tribe. For all poetry has by nature an
enigmatical character, and it is by no means everybody who can interpret
it. And if, moreover, the spirit of poetry happen to seize on a man who is
of a begrudging temper and does not care to manifest his wisdom but keeps
it to himself as far as he can, it does indeed require an almost superhuman
wisdom to discover what the poet would be at. You surely do not suppose
that Homer, the wisest and most divine of poets, was unaware of the
impossibility of knowing a thing badly: for it was no less a person than
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Voyage Out by Virginia Woolf: way in which lovers suddenly rose and united, leaving the crowd
gazing up at them with strained white faces. But Susan and Arthur,
riding down the hill, never said a word to each other, and kept
accurately apart.
Then the fireworks became erratic, and soon they ceased altogether,
and the rest of the journey was made almost in darkness,
the mountain being a great shadow behind them, and bushes and trees
little shadows which threw darkness across the road. Among the
plane-trees they separated, bundling into carriages and driving off,
without saying good-night, or saying it only in a half-muffled way.
It was so late that there was no time for normal conversation
|
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 Beauty and The Beast by Bayard Taylor: turning to the audience.
"Then there were tremendous cries of "Yes! yes! Wrangle! Tumbrill!"
Mr. Wrangle looked at Mr. Tumbrill, and made a motion with his
head, signifying that he should speak. Then Mr. Tumbrill looked at
Mr. Wrangle, and made a motion that HE should speak. The
people saw all this, and laughed and shouted as if they would never
finish.
Mr. Wrangle, on second thoughts (this is my private surmise), saw
that boldness would just then be popular; so he stepped forward.
"Do I understand," he said, "that my fair and eloquent friend
demands perfect political and civil equality for her sex?"
|
