| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Cruise of the Jasper B. by Don Marquis: born and made. It was so with Cleggett. His interest in fencing
had been keen from his early boyhood. In his teens he had
acquired unusual practical skill without great theoretical
knowledge. Then he had recognized the art for what it is, the
most beautiful game on earth, and had made a profound and
thorough study of it; it appealed to his imagination.
He became, in a way, the poet of the foil.
Cleggett seldom fenced publicly, and then only under an assumed
name; he abhorred publicity. But there was not a teacher in New
York City who did not know him for a master. They brought him
their half worked out visions of new combinations, new thrusts;
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Divine Comedy (translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow) by Dante Alighieri: "Who guided you? or who has been your lamp
In issuing forth out of the night profound,
That ever black makes the infernal valley?
The laws of the abyss, are they thus broken?
Or is there changed in heaven some council new,
That being damned ye come unto my crags?"
Then did my Leader lay his grasp upon me,
And with his words, and with his hands and signs,
Reverent he made in me my knees and brow;
Then answered him: "I came not of myself;
A Lady from Heaven descended, at whose prayers
The Divine Comedy (translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow) |
