| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Lady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence: same, he offered her a soft stream of a queer, inverted sort of love.
He wanted to be WITH her.
'Have you ever thought,' he said to her one day, 'how very little
people are connected with one another. Look at Daniele! He is handsome
as a son of the sun. But see how alone he looks in his handsomeness.
Yet I bet he has a wife and family, and couldn't possibly go away from
them.'
'Ask him,' said Connie.
Duncan did so. Daniele said he was married, and had two children, both
male, aged seven and nine. But he betrayed no emotion over the fact.
'Perhaps only people who are capable of real togetherness have that
Lady Chatterley's Lover |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Vendetta by Honore de Balzac: antiquity.
Under the Empire, and during the Hundred Days, while exercising
functions that were liberally rewarded, the old Corsican had
maintained a great establishment, more for the purpose of doing honor
to his office than from any desire to shine himself. His life and that
of his wife were so frugal, so tranquil, that their modest fortune
sufficed for all their wants. To them, their daughter Ginevra was more
precious than the wealth of the whole world. When, therefore, in May,
1814, the Baron di Piombo resigned his office, dismissed his crowd of
servants, and closed his stable door, Ginevra, quiet, simple and
unpretending like her parents, saw nothing to regret in the change.
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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 Mirror of the Sea by Joseph Conrad: of her arriving anywhere. Moreover, it is strictly true that most
ships will sail without ballast for some little time before they
turn turtle upon the crew.
A shipowner loves a profitable ship; the seaman is proud of her; a
doubt of her good looks seldom exists in his mind; but if he can
boast of her more useful qualities it is an added satisfaction for
his self-love.
The loading of ships was once a matter of skill, judgment, and
knowledge. Thick books have been written about it. "Stevens on
Stowage" is a portly volume with the renown and weight (in its own
world) of Coke on Littleton. Stevens is an agreeable writer, and,
The Mirror of the Sea |
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 Mrs. Warren's Profession by George Bernard Shaw: appetite and political conscience complaining of want of dramatic
power. Rather do they protest, not altogether unjustly, against
a few relapses into staginess and caricature which betray the
young playwright and the old playgoer in this early work of mine.
As to the voluptuaries, I can assure them that the playwright,
whether he be myself or another, will always disappoint them.
The drama can do little to delight the senses: all the apparent
instances to the contrary are instances of the personal
fascination of the performers. The drama of pure feeling is no
longer in the hands of the playwright: it has been conquered by
the musician, after whose enchantments all the verbal arts seem
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