| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf: praise his boots when he asked her to solace his soul; when he had
shown her his bleeding hands, his lacerated heart, and asked her to
pity them, then to say, cheerfully, "Ah, but what beautiful boots you
wear!" deserved, she knew, and she looked up expecting to get it in one
of his sudden roars of ill-temper complete annihilation.
Instead, Mr Ramsay smiled. His pall, his draperies, his infirmities
fell from him. Ah, yes, he said, holding his foot up for her to look
at, they were first-rate boots. There was only one man in England who
could make boots like that. Boots are among the chief curses of
mankind, he said. "Bootmakers make it their business," he exclaimed,
"to cripple and torture the human foot." They are also the most
To the Lighthouse |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Almayer's Folly by Joseph Conrad: When she found out what he wanted exactly, there was a row, I can
tell you. She would not have Nina--not an hour longer--in the
house. Fact is, I heard of this affair and took the girl to my
wife. My wife is a pretty good woman--as women go--and upon my
word we would have kept the girl for you, only she would not
stay. Now, then! Don't flare up, Kaspar. Sit still. What can
you do? It is better so. Let her stay with you. She was never
happy over there. Those two Vinck girls are no better than
dressed-up monkeys. They slighted her. You can't make her
white. It's no use you swearing at me. You can't. She is a
good girl for all that, but she would not tell my wife anything.
Almayer's Folly |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Main Street by Sinclair Lewis: In a moment he was cautiously attacking: "That's a wonderful
boy, Will Kennicott. Great work these country practitioners
are doing. The other day, in Washington, I was
talking to a big scientific shark, a professor in Johns Hopkins
medical school, and he was saying that no one has ever
sufficiently appreciated the general practitioner and the
sympathy and help he gives folks. These crack specialists, the
young scientific fellows, they're so cocksure and so wrapped
up in their laboratories that they miss the human element.
Except in the case of a few freak diseases that no respectable
human being would waste his time having, it's the old doc
|
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 Odyssey by Homer: he should escape death, and find his way home again after all.
Let me have twelve jars, and see that they all have lids; also
fill me some well-sewn leathern bags with barley meal--about
twenty measures in all. Get these things put together at once,
and say nothing about it. I will take everything away this
evening as soon as my mother has gone upstairs for the night. I
am going to Sparta and to Pylos to see if I can hear anything
about the return of my dear father.
When Euryclea heard this she began to cry, and spoke fondly to
him, saying, "My dear child, what ever can have put such notion
as that into your head? Where in the world do you want to go
The Odyssey |
