| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Historical Lecturers and Essays by Charles Kingsley: the word, a courtier: "One," says Daniel Heinsius, "who seemed not
only born for a court, but born to amend it. He brought to his
queen that at which she could not wonder enough. For, by affecting
a certain liberty in censuring morals, he avoided all offence, under
the cloak of simplicity." Of him and his compeers, Turnebus, and
Muretus, and their friend Andrea Govea, Ronsard, the French court
poet, said that they had nothing of the pedagogue about them but the
gown and cap. "Austere in face, and rustic in his looks," says
David Buchanan, "but most polished in style and speech; and
continually, even in serious conversation, jesting most wittily."
"Rough-hewn, slovenly, and rude," says Peacham, in his "Compleat
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Heart of the West by O. Henry: lightnin' don't strike a fool like me. Go home and play in the sand.
What business have you got cavortin' around with grown men? I reckon I
was locoed to be makin' a he poll-parrot out of myself for a kid like
you. Go home and don't let me see you no more. Why I done it, will
somebody tell me? Go home, and let me try and forget it."
Panchita obeyed and walked slowly toward her home, saying nothing. For
some distance she kept her head turned and her large eyes fixed
intrepidly upon Dry Valley's. At her gate she stood for a moment
looking back at him, then ran suddenly and swiftly into the house.
Old Antonia was building a fire in the kitchen stove. Dry Valley
stopped at the door and laughed harshly.
Heart of the West |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Arrow of Gold by Joseph Conrad: Suddenly I became intensely alive to the whole situation. I
bounded back, closed the door of Blunt's room, and the next moment
was speaking to the Italian. "A little patience." My hands
trembled but I managed to take down the chain and as I allowed the
door to swing open a little more I put myself in his way. He was
burly, venerable, a little indignant, and full of thanks. Behind
him his two girls, in short-skirted costumes, white stockings, and
low shoes, their heads powdered and earrings sparkling in their
ears, huddled together behind their father, wrapped up in their
light mantles. One had kept her little black mask on her face, the
other held hers in her hand.
The Arrow of Gold |
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 Works of Samuel Johnson by Samuel Johnson: charge an author with plagiarism, merely because he
assigns to every cause its natural effect; and makes
his personages act, as others in like circumstances
have always done. There are conceptions in which
all men will agree, though each derives them from
his own observation: whoever has been in love, will
represent a lover impatient of every idea that
interrupts his meditations on his mistress, retiring to
shades and solitude, that he may muse without
disturbance on his approaching happiness, or associating
himself with some friend that flatters his passion,
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