| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf: of painting tomorrow that she laughed out loud at what Mr Tansley was
saying. Let him talk all night if he liked it.
"But how long do they leave men on a Lighthouse?" she asked. He told
her. He was amazingly well informed. And as he was grateful, and as
he liked her, and as he was beginning to enjoy himself, so now, Mrs
Ramsay thought, she could return to that dream land, that unreal but
fascinating place, the Mannings' drawing-room at Marlow twenty years
ago; where one moved about without haste or anxiety, for there was no
future to worry about. She knew what had happened to them, what to
her. It was like reading a good book again, for she knew the end of
that story, since it had happened twenty years ago, and life, which
To the Lighthouse |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Passion in the Desert by Honore de Balzac: delights. He discovered in the rising and setting of the sun sights
unknown to the world. He knew what it was to tremble when he heard
over his head the hiss of a bird's wing, so rarely did they pass, or
when he saw the clouds, changing and many colored travelers, melt one
into another. He studied in the night time the effect of the moon upon
the ocean of sand, where the simoom made waves swift of movement and
rapid in their change. He lived the life of the Eastern day, marveling
at its wonderful pomp; then, after having reveled in the sight of a
hurricane over the plain where the whirling sands made red, dry mists
and death-bearing clouds, he would welcome the night with joy, for
then fell the healthful freshness of the stars, and he listened to
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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 Commission in Lunacy by Honore de Balzac: illustrious Cardinal of that name had built, or perhaps merely lived
in it.
There still exists, indeed, in the corner of the courtyard, a perron
or flight of several outer steps by which the house is entered; and
the way into the garden on the garden front is down a similar flight
of steps. In spite of dilapidations, the luxury lavished by the
architect on the balustrade and entrance porch crowning these two
perrons suggests the simple-minded purpose of commemorating the
owner's name, a sort of sculptured pun which our ancestors often
allowed themselves. Finally, in support of this evidence,
archaeologists can still discern in the medallions which show on the
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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 Egmont by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe: Egmont. Must we not greet him when he comes?
Orange. We will delay.
Egmont. What if, on his arrival, he should summon us in the king's name?
Orange. We will answer evasively.
Egmont. And if he is urgent?
Orange. We will excuse ourselves.
Egmont. And if he insist?
Orange. We shall be the less disposed to come.
Egmont. Then war is declared; and we are rebels. Do not suffer prudence
to mislead you,
Orange. I know it is not fear that makes you yield. Consider this step.
Egmont |
