| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Cousin Betty by Honore de Balzac: as if she had seen him only the day before, though in fact he had not
called there for more than two years.
"Good-morning, father," said Victorin, offering his hand.
"Good-morning, children," said the pompous Crevel. "Madame la Baronne,
I throw myself at your feet! Good Heavens, how the children grow! they
are pushing us off the perch--'Grand-pa,' they say, 'we want our turn
in the sunshine.'--Madame la Comtesse, you are as lovely as ever," he
went on, addressing Hortense.--"Ah, ha! and here is the best of good
money: Cousin Betty, the Wise Virgin."
"Why, you are really very comfortable here," said he, after scattering
these greetings with a cackle of loud laughter that hardly moved the
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Duchesse de Langeais by Honore de Balzac: upon your forehead, here between the eyes, so that there will be
no possibility of hiding the mark with diamonds, and so avoiding
people's questions. In short, you shall bear on your forehead
the brand of infamy which your brothers the convicts wear on
their shoulders. The pain is a mere trifle, but I feared a
nervous crisis of some kind, of resistance----"
"Resistance?" she cried, clapping her hands for joy. "Oh no,
no! I would have the whole world here to see. Ah, my Armand,
brand her quickly, this creature of yours; brand her with your
mark as a poor little trifle belonging to you. You asked for
pledges of my love; here they are all in one. Ah! for me there
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Frankenstein by Mary Shelley: deserved better treatment than blows and execration.
"The pleasant showers and genial warmth of spring greatly altered
the aspect of the earth. Men who before this change seemed to have
been hid in caves dispersed themselves and were employed in various
arts of cultivation. The birds sang in more cheerful notes, and
the leaves began to bud forth on the trees. Happy, happy earth!
Fit habitation for gods, which, so short a time before, was bleak,
damp, and unwholesome. My spirits were elevated by the enchanting
appearance of nature; the past was blotted from my memory, the present
was tranquil, and the future gilded by bright rays of hope and
anticipations of joy."
Frankenstein |
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 Myths and Myth-Makers by John Fiske: Hektor and Aineias hurl enormous masses of rock as easily as
an ordinary man would throw a pebble. All this shows that the
poet, in his naive way, conceiving of these heroes as
personages of a remote past, was endeavouring as far as
possible to ascribe to them the attributes of superior beings.
If all that were divine, marvellous, or superhuman were to be
left out of the poems, the supposed historical residue would
hardly be worth the trouble of saving. As Mr. Cox well
observes, "It is of the very essence of the narrative that
Paris, who has deserted Oinone, the child of the stream
Kebren, and before whom Here, Athene, and Aphrodite had
Myths and Myth-Makers |
