| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad: but their faces were essentially quiet, even those of
the one or two who grinned as they hauled at the chain.
Several exchanged short, grunting phrases, which seemed
to settle the matter to their satisfaction. Their headman,
a young, broad-chested black, severely draped in dark-blue
fringed cloths, with fierce nostrils and his hair
all done up artfully in oily ringlets, stood near me.
`Aha!' I said, just for good fellowship's sake.
`Catch 'im,' he snapped, with a bloodshot widening of his eyes
and a flash of sharp teeth--'catch 'im. Give 'im to us.'
`To you, eh?' I asked; `what would you do with them?' `Eat 'im!'
Heart of Darkness |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from In the Cage by Henry James: ached with rubbing. This transparent screen fenced out or fenced
in, according to the side of the narrow counter on which the human
lot was cast, the duskiest corner of a shop pervaded not a little,
in winter, by the poison of perpetual gas, and at all times by the
presence of hams, cheese, dried fish, soap, varnish, paraffin and
other solids and fluids that she came to know perfectly by their
smells without consenting to know them by their names.
The barrier that divided the little post-and-telegraph-office from
the grocery was a frail structure of wood and wire; but the social,
the professional separation was a gulf that fortune, by a stroke
quite remarkable, had spared her the necessity of contributing at
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from She Stoops to Conquer by Oliver Goldsmith: safety? Ah! numskull! I have taken better precautions for you than
you did for yourself----I have----
HASTINGS. What?
MARLOW. I have sent it to the landlady to keep for you.
HASTINGS. To the landlady!
MARLOW. The landlady.
HASTINGS. You did?
MARLOW. I did. She's to be answerable for its forthcoming, you know.
HASTINGS. Yes, she'll bring it forth with a witness.
MARLOW. Wasn't I right? I believe you'll allow that I acted
prudently upon this occasion.
She Stoops to Conquer |
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 Complete Poems of Longfellow by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: Take him, ye cruel and bloodthirsty priests,
More merciless than the plebeian mob,
Who pity and spare the fainting gladiator
Blood-stained in Roman amphitheatres,--
Take him, and crucify him if ye will;
But if the immortal Gods do ever mingle
With the affairs of mortals, which I doubt not,
And hold the attribute of justice dear,
They will commission the Eumenides
To scatter you to the four winds of heaven,
Exacting tear for tear, and blood for blood.
|
