| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Modeste Mignon by Honore de Balzac: of age, in the first exercise of our will. She was possessed, as in
the middle ages. She made pictures in her mind of the poet's abode, of
his study; she saw him unsealing her letter; and then followed myriads
of suppositions.
After sketching the poetry we cannot do less than give the profile of
the poet. Canalis is a short, spare man, with an air of good-breeding,
a dark-complexioned, moon-shaped face, and a rather mean head like
that of a man who has more vanity than pride. He loves luxury, rank,
and splendor. Money is of more importance to him than to most men.
Proud of his birth, even more than of his talent, he destroys the
value of his ancestors by making too much of them in the present day,
Modeste Mignon |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson by Mark Twain: Tom sprang at him and drove his pocketknife into him two or three
times before the boys could snatch him away and give the wounded lad
a chance to escape. He was considerably hurt, but not seriously.
If the blade had been a little longer, his career would have ended there.
Tom had long ago taught Roxy "her place." It had been many a day now
since she had ventured a caress or a fondling epithet in his quarter.
Such things, from a "nigger," were repulsive to him, and she had been
warned to keep her distance and remember who she was. She saw her
darling gradually cease from being her son, she saw THAT detail
perish utterly; all that was left was master--master, pure and simple,
and it was not a gentle mastership, either. She saw herself sink from the
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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 Spirit of the Border by Zane Grey: in her sleep, and how greatly it annoyed her. He might hear something more
with which to tease her; so he listened.
"Yes--uncle--I will go--Kate, we must--go. . ."
Another interval of silence, then more murmurings. He distinguished his own
name, and presently she called clearly, as if answering some inward
questioner.
"I--love him--yes--I love Joe--he has mastered me. Yet I wish he were--like
Jim--Jim who looked at me--so--with his deep eyes--and I. . . ."
Joe lifted her as if she were a baby, and carrying her down to the raft,
gently laid her by her sleeping sister.
The innocent words which he should not have heard were like a blow. What she
The Spirit of the Border |
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 Moral Emblems by Robert Louis Stevenson: And, casting a disdainful eye,
Goes gaily gallivanting by.
He from the poor averts his head . . .
He will regret it when he's dead.
Poem: III - A PEAK IN DARIEN
Broad-gazing on untrodden lands,
See where adventurous Cortez stands;
While in the heavens above his head
The Eagle seeks its daily bread.
How aptly fact to fact replies:
Heroes and eagles, hills and skies.
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