| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Lord Arthur Savile's Crime, etc. by Oscar Wilde: to this idea its fullest expression. To imagine that the 'powerful
rhyme' of the second line refers to the sonnet itself, is to
mistake Shakespeare's meaning entirely. It seemed to me that it
was extremely likely, from the general character of the sonnet,
that a particular play was meant, and that the play was none other
but ROMEO AND JULIET.
Not marble, nor the gilded monuments
Of princes, shall outlive this powerful rhyme;
But you shall shine more bright in these contents
Than unswept stone besmear'd with sluttish time.
When wasteful wars shall statues overturn,
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Distinguished Provincial at Paris by Honore de Balzac: With the second act, a Parisian Spaniard appeared upon the scene,
with her features cut like a cameo and her dangerous eyes. "Where
does she come from?" I asked in my turn, and was told that she
came from the greenroom, and that she was Mademoiselle Florine;
but, upon my word, I could not believe a syllable of it, such
spirit was there in her gestures, such frenzy in her love. She is
the rival of the Alcalde's daughter, and married to a grandee cut
out to wear an Almaviva's cloak, with stuff sufficient in it for a
hundred boulevard noblemen. Mlle. Florine wore neither scarlet
stockings with green clocks, nor patent leather shoes, but she
appeared in a mantilla, a veil which she put to admirable uses,
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Varieties of Religious Experience by William James: she reveals about those destinies, or whether indeed she reveals
anything distinct enough to be considered a general message to
mankind. We have done as you see, with our preliminaries, and
our final summing up can now begin.
I am well aware that after all the palpitating documents which I
have quoted, and all the perspectives of emotion-inspiring
institution and belief that my previous lectures have opened, the
dry analysis to which I now advance may appear to many of you
like an anti-climax, a tapering-off and flattening out of the
subject, instead of a crescendo of interest and result. I said
awhile ago that the religious attitude of Protestants appears
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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 King Henry VI by William Shakespeare: Duke of York, I will take my death, I never meant him any ill,
nor the
king, nor the queen;--and therefore, Peter, have at thee with a
downright
blow!
YORK.
Dispatch; this knave's tongue begins to double.--
Sound, trumpets, alarum to the combatants!
[Alarum. They fight, and Peter strikes him down.]
HORNER.
Hold, Peter, hold! I confess, I confess treason.
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