| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Lady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence: her own; much deeper and wider, and perhaps more deadly. And this
relieved her of herself; she felt almost irresponsible.
So she sat in the doorway of the hut in a dream, utterly unaware of
time and of particular circumstances. She was so drifted away that he
glanced up at her quickly, and saw the utterly still, waiting look on
her face. To him it was a look of waiting. And a little thin tongue of
fire suddenly flickered in his loins, at the root of his back, and he
groaned in spirit. He dreaded with a repulsion almost of death, any
further close human contact. He wished above all things she would go
away, and leave him to his own privacy. He dreaded her will, her female
will, and her modern female insistency. And above all he dreaded her
Lady Chatterley's Lover |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Time Machine by H. G. Wells: flittering up into the sky and, circling, disappear over some low
hillocks beyond. The sound of its voice was so dismal that I
shivered and seated myself more firmly upon the machine. Looking
round me again, I saw that, quite near, what I had taken to be a
reddish mass of rock was moving slowly towards me. Then I saw
the thing was really a monstrous crab-like creature. Can you
imagine a crab as large as yonder table, with its many legs
moving slowly and uncertainly, its big claws swaying, its long
antennae, like carters' whips, waving and feeling, and its
stalked eyes gleaming at you on either side of its metallic
front? Its back was corrugated and ornamented with ungainly
The Time Machine |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Mansion by Henry van Dyke: were given in the mansion during December, after which the father
called the son's attention to the fact that over a hundred
million dollars
had sat around the board.
But on Christmas Eve father and son were dining together without
guests,
and their talk across the broad table, glittering with silver and
cut glass, and softly lit by shaded candles, was intimate, though
a little
slow at times. The elder man was in rather a rare mood, more
expansive and
|
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 Heart of the West by O. Henry: to the edge of the pear to meet him.
The Kid seldom smiled; but he smiled and waved his hat when he saw
her. He dismounted, and his girl sprang into his arms. The Kid looked
at her fondly. His thick, black hair clung to his head like a wrinkled
mat. The meeting brought a slight ripple of some undercurrent of
feeling to his smooth, dark face that was usually as motionless as a
clay mask.
"How's my girl?" he asked, holding her close.
"Sick of waiting so long for you, dear one," she answered. "My eyes
are dim with always gazing into that devil's pincushion through which
you come. And I can see into it such a little way, too. But you are
Heart of the West |
