| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Soul of the Far East by Percival Lowell: throbbing with personality, hunting in a Japanese sentence for
personal references is dishearteningly like "searching in the dark
for a black hat which is n't there;" for the brevet pronouns are
commonly not on duty. To employ them with the reckless prodigality
that characterizes our conversation would strike the Tartar mind
like interspersing his talk with unmeaning italics. He would regard
such discourse much as we do those effusive epistles of a certain
type of young woman to her most intimate girl friends, in which
every other word is emphatically underlined.
For the most part, the absolutely necessary personal references are
introduced by honorifics; that is, by honorary or humble expressions.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson by Robert Louis Stevenson: 'best held.' See as many people as you can, and make a book of
them before you die. That will be a living book, upon my word.
You have the touch required. I ask you to put hands to it in
private already. Think of what Carlyle's caricature of old
Coleridge is to us who never saw S. T. C. With that and Kubla
Khan, we have the man in the fact. Carlyle's picture, of course,
is not of the author of KUBLA, but of the author of that surprising
FRIEND which has knocked the breath out of two generations of
hopeful youth. Your portraits would be milder, sweeter, more true
perhaps, and perhaps not so truth-TELLING - if you will take my
meaning.
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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 Albert Savarus by Honore de Balzac: "I want to speak to him."
The old man went into the drawing-room with sublime good faith; he was
sure of his wife.
"I will not have you come with us to Geneva," she said to Rodolphe.
"It is a gossiping town. Though I am far above the nonsense the world
talks, I do not choose to be calumniated, not for my own sake, but for
his. I make it my pride to be the glory of that old man, who is, after
all, my only protector. We are leaving; stay here a few days. When you
come on to Geneva, call first on my husband, and let him introduce you
to me. Let us hide our great and unchangeable affection from the eyes
of the world. I love you; you know it; but this is how I will prove it
Albert Savarus |
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 Mysterious Island by Jules Verne: There was something indeed in this to astonish the most apathetic of men,
and the settlers were not men of that description. In their situation every
incident had its importance, and, certainly, during the seven months which
they had spent on the island, they had not before met with anything of so
surprising a character.
Be that as it may, forgetting their fatigue in the singularity of the
event, they remained below Granite House, not knowing what to think, not
knowing what to do, questioning each other without any hope of a
satisfactory reply, every one starting some supposition each more unlikely
than the last. Neb bewailed himself, much disappointed at not being able to
get into his kitchen, for the provisions which they had had on their
The Mysterious Island |
