| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Call of the Canyon by Zane Grey: And all that is past. . . . Is there anything left? If so what?"
She flung her query out to the winds of the desert. But the desert seemed
too gray, too vast, too remote, too aloof, too measureless. It was not
concerned with her little life. Then she turned to the mountain kingdom.
It seemed overpoweringly near at hand. It loomed above her to pierce the
fleecy clouds. It was only a stupendous upheaval of earth-crust, grown over
at the base by leagues and leagues of pine forest, belted along the middle
by vast slanting zigzag slopes of aspen, rent and riven toward the heights
into canyon and gorge, bared above to cliffs and corners of craggy rock,
whitened at the sky-piercing peaks by snow. Its beauty and sublimity were
lost upon Carley now; she was concerned with its travail, its age, its
The Call of the Canyon |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Venus and Adonis by William Shakespeare: 'Over my altars hath he hung his lance,
His batter'd shield, his uncontrolled crest, 104
And for my sake hath learn'd to sport and dance
To toy, to wanton, dally, smile, and jest;
Scorning his churlish drum and ensign red
Making my arms his field, his tent my bed. 108
'Thus he that overrul'd I oversway'd,
Leading him prisoner in a red-rose chain:
Strong-temper'd steel his stronger strength obey'd,
Yet was he servile to my coy disdain. 112
O! be not proud, nor brag not of thy might,
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne: vanished, or been obscured, before I met the General. All merely
graceful attributes are usually the most evanescent; nor does
THE CUSTOM-HOUSE 31
nature adorn the human ruin with blossoms of new beauty, that
have their roots and proper nutriment only in the chinks and
The Scarlet Letter |
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 Albert Savarus by Honore de Balzac: herself a princess, with all the prerogatives she might have enjoyed
in the Middle Ages. She seemed to have read the thoughts of this
vassal who was so audacious as to constitute himself her protector.
Already, in the furniture of the room where Francesca had received
him, in her dress, and in the various trifles she made use of,
Rodolphe had detected indications of a superior character and a fine
fortune. All these observations now recurred to his mind; he became
thoughtful after having been trampled on, as it were, by Francesca's
dignity. Gina, her half-grown-up /confidante/, also seemed to have a
mocking expression as she gave a covert or a side glance at Rodolphe.
This obvious disagreement between the Italian lady's rank and her
Albert Savarus |
