| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte by Karl Marx: 1848-1851, French society retrieved in abbreviated, because
revolutionary, method the lessons and teachings, which--if it was to be
more than a disturbance of the surface-should have preceded the February
revolution, had it developed in regular order, by rule, so to say. Now
French society seems to have receded behind its point of departure; in
fact, however, it was compelled to first produce its own revolutionary
point of departure, the situation, circumstances, conditions, under
which alone the modern revolution is in earnest.
Bourgeois revolutions, like those of the eighteenth century, rush onward
rapidly from success to success, their stage effects outbid one another,
men and things seem to be set in flaming brilliants, ecstasy is the
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Yates Pride by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman: adjective magnificent. There had been opulence in the Yates
family; and in this room, which had been conserved, there was
still undimmed and unfaded evidence of it. Eudora drew aside a
brocade curtain and sat down on an embroidered satin sofa.
Lawton sat beside her.
"This room looks every whit as grand as it used to look to me
when I was a boy," he said.
"It has hardly been opened, except to have it cleaned, since you
went away," replied Eudora, "and no wear has come upon it."
"And everything was rather splendid to begin with, and has
lasted. And so were you, Eudora, and you have lasted. Well,
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift: shall say something, when I have mentioned one illustrious person
more, who is called among them "the universal artist." He told
us "he had been thirty years employing his thoughts for the
improvement of human life." He had two large rooms full of
wonderful curiosities, and fifty men at work. Some were
condensing air into a dry tangible substance, by extracting the
nitre, and letting the aqueous or fluid particles percolate;
others softening marble, for pillows and pin-cushions; others
petrifying the hoofs of a living horse, to preserve them from
foundering. The artist himself was at that time busy upon two
great designs; the first, to sow land with chaff, wherein he
Gulliver's Travels |
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 Trooper Peter Halket of Mashonaland by Olive Schreiner: as one who prepares to enjoy a good talk. "One girl was only fifteen; I
got her cheap from a policeman who was living with her, and she wasn't
much. But the other, by Gad! I never saw another nigger like her; well
set up, I tell you, and as straight as that--" said Peter, holding up his
finger in the firelight. "She was thirty if she was a day. Fellows don't
generally fancy women that age; they like slips of girls. But I set my
heart on her the day I saw her. She belonged to the chap I was with. He
got her up north. There was a devil of a row about his getting her, too;
she'd got a nigger husband and two children; didn't want to leave them, or
some nonsense of that sort: you know what these niggers are? Well, I tried
to get the other fellow to let me have her, but the devil a bit he would.
|
