| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy: She raised her ancient eyes under the rim of the by-gone
bonnet that she always wore. "Who's been telling you that?"
she said.
"I have heard it spoken of, and want to know all."
"You med so well, I s'pose; though your wife--I reckon 'twas she--
must have been a fool to open up that! There isn't much to know after all.
Your father and mother couldn't get on together, and they parted.
It was coming home from Alfredston market, when you were a baby--
on the hill by the Brown House barn--that they had their last difference,
and took leave of one another for the last time. Your mother soon
afterwards died--she drowned herself, in short, and your father went away
Jude the Obscure |
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 H.F. Cary) by Dante Alighieri: to be relied on.
CANTO XXIX.
v. 26. Geri of Bello.] A kinsman of the Poet's, who was
murdered by one of the Sacchetti family. His being placed here,
may be considered as a proof that Dante was more impartial in the
allotment of his punishments than has generally been supposed.
v. 44. As were the torment.] It is very probable that these
lines gave Milton the idea of his celebrated description:
Immediately a place
Before their eyes appear'd, sad, noisome, dark,
A lasar-house it seem'd, wherein were laid
The Divine Comedy (translated by H.F. Cary) |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad: I had full information about all these things, and, besides,
as it turned out, I was to have the care of his memory.
I've done enough for it to give me the indisputable right to lay it,
if I choose, for an everlasting rest in the dust-bin of progress,
amongst all the sweepings and, figuratively speaking, all the dead
cats of civilization. But then, you see, I can't choose.
He won't be forgotten. Whatever he was, he was not common.
He had the power to charm or frighten rudimentary souls into
an aggravated witch-dance in his honour; he could also fill
the small souls of the pilgrims with bitter misgivings:
he had one devoted friend at least, and he had conquered one
Heart of Darkness |
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 Soul of Man by Oscar Wilde: see how, with their lack of comprehension of what Art is, they
could possibly use them in the proper sense. I am merely pointing
out the misuse; and as for the origin of the misuse and the meaning
that lies behind it all, the explanation is very simple. It comes
from the barbarous conception of authority. It comes from the
natural inability of a community corrupted by authority to
understand or appreciate Individualism. In a word, it comes from
that monstrous and ignorant thing that is called Public Opinion,
which, bad and well-meaning as it is when it tries to control
action, is infamous and of evil meaning when it tries to control
Thought or Art.
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