| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Goodness of St. Rocque and Other Stories by Alice Dunbar: sense of jester's noise, and the flaunting vividness of royal
colours. The streets swarm with humanity,--humanity in all
shapes, manners, forms, laughing, pushing, jostling, crowding, a
mass of men and women and children, as varied and assorted in
their several individual peculiarities as ever a crowd that
gathered in one locality since the days of Babel.
It is Carnival in New Orleans; a brilliant Tuesday in February,
when the very air gives forth an ozone intensely exhilarating,
making one long to cut capers. The buildings are a blazing mass
of royal purple and golden yellow, national flags, bunting, and
decorations that laugh in the glint of the Midas sun. The
The Goodness of St. Rocque and Other Stories |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Egmont by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe: anxieties and idle fears?
Secretary. I entreat you, my lord, be not so harsh towards the venerable
man. You are wont to be friendly towards every one. Say a kindly word to
allay the anxiety of your noble friend. See how considerate he is, with
what delicacy he warns you.
Egmont. Yet he harps continually on the same string. He knows of old
how I detest these admonitions. They serve only to perplex and are of no
avail. What if I were a somnambulist, and trod the giddy summit of a lofty
house,--were it the part of friendship to call me by my name, to warn me
of my danger, to waken, to kill me? Let each choose his own path, and
provide for his own safety.
Egmont |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Lamentable Tragedy of Locrine and Mucedorus by William Shakespeare: Millions of devils wait upon thy soul!
Legions of spirits vex thy impious ghost!
Ten thousand torments rack thy cursed bones!
Let every thing that hath the use of breath
Be instruments and workers of thy death!
[Exeunt.]
ACT IV. SCENE II. A forest.
[Enter Humber alone, his hair hanging over his
shoulders, his arms all bloody, and a dart in one
hand.]
HUMBER.
|
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 Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas: horribly spectacle. The two assistants had borne Andrea to
the scaffold, and there, in spite of his struggles, his
bites, and his cries, had forced him to his knees. During
this time the executioner had raised his mace, and signed to
them to get out of the way; the criminal strove to rise,
but, ere he had time, the mace fell on his left temple. A
dull and heavy sound was heard, and the man dropped like an
ox on his face, and then turned over on his back. The
executioner let fall his mace, drew his knife, and with one
stroke opened his throat, and mounting on his stomach,
stamped violently on it with his feet. At every stroke a jet
The Count of Monte Cristo |
