| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Mosses From An Old Manse by Nathaniel Hawthorne: "This broad rock is the gravestone of your near kindred, Dorcas,"
said her husband. "Your tears will fall at once over your father
and your son."
She heard him not. With one wild shriek, that seemed to force its
way from the sufferer's inmost soul, she sank insensible by the
side of her dead boy. At that moment the withered topmost bough
of the oak loosened itself in the stilly air, and fell in soft,
light fragments upon the rock, upon the leaves, upon Reuben, upon
his wife and child, and upon Roger Malvin's bones. Then Reuben's
heart was stricken, and the tears gushed out like water from a
rock. The vow that the wounded youth had made the blighted man
Mosses From An Old Manse |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald: the theatre, greeted by the nervous twanging and discord of
untuned violins and the sensuous, heavy fragrance of paint and
powder, he moved in a sphere of epicurean delight. Everything
enchanted him. The play was "The Little Millionaire," with George
M. Cohan, and there was one stunning young brunette who made him
sit with brimming eyes in the ecstasy of watching her dance.
"Ohyouwonderful girl,
What a wonderful girl you are"
sang the tenor, and Amory agreed silently, but passionately.
"Allyourwonderful words
Thrill me through"
This Side of Paradise |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Enoch Arden, &c. by Alfred Tennyson: Till Leolin ever watchful of her eye
Hated him with a momentary hate.
Wife-hunting, as the rumor ran, was he:
I know not, for he spoke not, only shower'd
His oriental gifts on everyone
And most on Edith: like a storm he came,
And shook the house, and like a storm he went.
Among the gifts he left her (possibly
He flow'd and ebb'd uncertain, to return
When others had been tested) there was one,
A dagger, in rich sheath with jewels on it
|
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 Koran: afar off; nor wast thou of the witnesses. But we raised up (other)
generations, and life was prolonged for them; and thou wast not
staying amidst the people of Midian, reciting to them our signs; but
we were sending our apostles.
Nor wast thou by the side of the mountain when we called; but it
is a mercy from thy Lord, that thou mayest warn a people to whom no
warner has come before thee; haply they may be mindful! And lest there
should befall them a mishap for what their hands have sent before, and
they should say, 'Our Lord! why didst thou not send to us an
apostle? for we would have followed thy signs and been of the
believers.'
The Koran |
