| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Idylls of the King by Alfred Tennyson: To seat you sole upon my pedestal
Of worship--I am answered, and henceforth
The course of life that seemed so flowery to me
With you for guide and master, only you,
Becomes the sea-cliff pathway broken short,
And ending in a ruin--nothing left,
But into some low cave to crawl, and there,
If the wolf spare me, weep my life away,
Killed with inutterable unkindliness.'
She paused, she turned away, she hung her head,
The snake of gold slid from her hair, the braid
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe: where we could not have failed of a market for our opium to our
satisfaction, and might for our money have purchased all sorts of
China goods as cheap as we could at Nankin.
Not being able to put the old man out of his talk, of which he was
very opinionated or conceited, I told him we were gentlemen as well
as merchants, and that we had a mind to go and see the great city
of Pekin, and the famous court of the monarch of China. "Why,
then," says the old man, "you should go to Ningpo, where, by the
river which runs into the sea there, you may go up within five
leagues of the great canal. This canal is a navigable stream,
which goes through the heart of that vast empire of China, crosses
Robinson Crusoe |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Wrong Box by Stevenson & Osbourne: of a valuable watch and a bill for eight hundred pounds completed
what deportment had begun. A quarter of an hour later, when the
train came up, Mr Finsbury was introduced to the guard and
installed in a first-class compartment, the station-master
smilingly assuming all responsibility.
As the old gentleman sat waiting the moment of departure, he was
the witness of an incident strangely connected with the fortunes
of his house. A packing-case of cyclopean bulk was borne along
the platform by some dozen of tottering porters, and ultimately,
to the delight of a considerable crowd, hoisted on board the van.
It is often the cheering task of the historian to direct
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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 Turn of the Screw by Henry James: "No, I can't say that, Miles."
"Except just that one night, you know--!"
"That one night?" I couldn't look as straight as he.
"Why, when I went down--went out of the house."
"Oh, yes. But I forget what you did it for."
"You forget?"--he spoke with the sweet extravagance of childish reproach.
"Why, it was to show you I could!"
"Oh, yes, you could."
"And I can again."
I felt that I might, perhaps, after all, succeed in keeping
my wits about me. "Certainly. But you won't."
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