| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Voice of the City by O. Henry: tles to an ash can.
Again I repaired to the park and sat in the moon
shade. I thought and thought, and wondered why
none could tell me what I asked for.
And then, as swift as light from a fixed star, the
answer came to me. I arose and hurried - hurried
as so many reasoners must, back around my circle.
I knew the answer and I bugged it in my breast as I
flew, fearing lest some one would stop me and demand
my secret.
Aurelia was still on the stoop. The moon was
The Voice of the City |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe: appeared to be a wild inconsistency between its still perfect
adaptation of parts, and the crumbling condition of the
individual stones. In this there was much that reminded me of
the specious totality of old wood-work which has rotted for long
years in some neglected vault, with no disturbance from the
breath of the external air. Beyond this indication of
extensive decay, however, the fabric gave little token of
instability. Perhaps the eye of a scrutinizing observer might
have discovered a barely perceptible fissure, which, extending
from the roof of the building in front, made its way down the
wall in a zigzag direction, until it became lost in the sullen
The Fall of the House of Usher |
