| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Paradise Lost by John Milton: And my fair son here show'st me, the dear pledge
Of dalliance had with thee in Heaven, and joys
Then sweet, now sad to mention, through dire change
Befallen us unforeseen, unthought-of--know,
I come no enemy, but to set free
From out this dark and dismal house of pain
Both him and thee, and all the heavenly host
Of Spirits that, in our just pretences armed,
Fell with us from on high. From them I go
This uncouth errand sole, and one for all
Myself expose, with lonely steps to tread
Paradise Lost |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Marie by H. Rider Haggard: "Allemachte! that's better," said Hans. "You threw stones on to _all_
the other heaps, didn't you, baas?"
The Zulus grew excited, and the odds went down a little. The Boers
stretched out their white faces and stared at me; I saw them out of the
corner of my eye as I loaded again. Another vulture came; seeing one of
its companions on the ground, if in a somewhat unnatural attitude,
perhaps it thought that there could be nothing to fear. I leaned
against my rock, aimed, and fired, almost carelessly, so sure was I of
the result. This time I did not shut my eyes, but watched to see what
happened.
The bullet struck the bird between its thighs, raked it from end to end,
Marie |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Amy Foster by Joseph Conrad: marriage affairs. He did not know how to pro-
ceed. However, one day in the midst of sheep in a
field (he was now Swaffer's under-shepherd with
Foster) he took off his hat to the father and de-
clared himself humbly. 'I daresay she's fool
enough to marry you,' was all Foster said. 'And
then,' he used to relate, 'he puts his hat on his head,
looks black at me as if he wanted to cut my throat,
whistles the dog, and off he goes, leaving me to do
the work.' The Fosters, of course, didn't like to
lose the wages the girl earned: Amy used to give all
Amy Foster |
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 Dead Souls by Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol: behaviour and endeavoured to stifle the endless flow of his good
spirits; with the result that when Platon, mistaking certain sounds
for utterances addressed to himself, inquired what his companion had
said, the latter retained the presence of mind to reply "Nothing."
Presently, as Chichikov gazed about him, he saw that for some time
past the koliaska had been skirting a beautiful wood, and that on
either side the road was bordered with an edging of birch trees, the
tenderly-green, recently-opened leaves of which caused their tall,
slender trunks to show up with the whiteness of a snowdrift. Likewise
nightingales were warbling from the recesses of the foliage, and some
wood tulips were glowing yellow in the grass. Next (and almost before
Dead Souls |
