| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Venus and Adonis by William Shakespeare: Or as the wolf doth grin before he barketh,
Or as the berry breaks before it staineth, 460
Or like the deadly bullet of a gun,
His meaning struck her ere his words begun.
And at his look she flatly falleth down
For looks kill love, and love by looks reviveth; 464
A smile recures the wounding of a frown;
But blessed bankrupt, that by love so thriveth!
The silly boy, believing she is dead
Claps her pale cheek, till clapping makes it red; 468
And all amaz'd brake off his late intent,
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Coxon Fund by Henry James: ridiculous, for I've never cared to tell them what it really was I
was taken up with. What I got out of it is the only morsel of the
total experience that is quite my own. The others were shared, but
this is incommunicable. I feel that now, I'm bound to say, even in
thus roughly evoking the occasion, and it takes something from my
pride of clearness. However, I shall perhaps be as clear as is
absolutely needful if I remark that our young lady was too much
given up to her own intensity of observation to be sensible of
mine. It was plainly not the question of her marriage that had
brought her back. I greatly enjoyed this discovery and was sure
that had that question alone been involved she would have stirred
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Charmides and Other Poems by Oscar Wilde: The red leaves fall upon the mould,
The white leaves flutter, one by one,
Down to a blue bowl where the sun,
Like a great dragon, writhes in gold.
The white leaves float upon the air,
The red leaves flutter idly down,
Some fall upon her yellow gown,
And some upon her raven hair.
She takes an amber lute and sings,
And as she sings a silver crane
Begins his scarlet neck to strain,
|
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 Records of a Family of Engineers by Robert Louis Stevenson: regularly allowed her by her late son, it was suggested that a
younger boy, a brother of the deceased, might be taken into
the service. This appeared to be rather a delicate
proposition, but it was left to the landing-master to arrange
according to circumstances; such was the resignation, and at
the same time the spirit, of the poor woman, that she readily
accepted the proposal, and in a few days the younger Scott was
actually afloat in the place of his brother. On representing
this distressing case to the Board, the Commissioners were
pleased to grant an annuity of 5 pounds to Scott's mother.
The SMEATON, not having been made fast to the buoy, had,
|
