| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Early Short Fiction of Edith Wharton by Edith Wharton: As saints who, having kept faith's raiment whole,
Change it above for garments glorified.
THE SONNET.
PURE form, that like some chalice of old time
Contain'st the liquid of the poet's thought
Within thy curving hollow, gem-enwrought
With interwoven traceries of rhyme,
While o'er thy brim the bubbling fancies climb,
What thing am I, that undismayed have sought
To pour my verse with trembling hand untaught
Into a shape so small yet so sublime?
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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 Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas: eyes, raised toward heaven during this delicious occupation,
spoke a language which, though mute, was not the less expressive.
"And now," said Athos, "unless Monsieur Cardinal should form the
ingenious idea of ripping up Grimaud, I think we may be pretty
much at our ease respecting the letter."
Meantime, his Eminence continued his melancholy ride, murmuring
between his mustaches, "These four men must positively be mine."
52 CAPTIVITY: THE FIRST DAY
Let us return to Milady, whom a glance thrown upon the coast of
France has made us lose sight of for an instant.
We shall find her still in the despairing attitude in which we
The Three Musketeers |
