| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Tales of Unrest by Joseph Conrad: unreasonably mistrusted. To combat that exasperating sensation he
recommenced talking very fast. The sound of his words excited his
thoughts, and in the play of darting thoughts he had glimpses now and
then of the inexpugnable rock of his convictions, towering in
solitary grandeur above the unprofitable waste of errors and passions.
"For it is self-evident," he went on with anxious vivacity, "it is
self-evident that, on the highest ground we haven't the right--no, we
haven't the right to intrude our miseries upon those who--who
naturally expect better things from us. Every one wishes his own life
and the life around him to be beautiful and pure. Now, a scandal
amongst people of our position is disastrous for the morality--a fatal
Tales of Unrest |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Village Rector by Honore de Balzac: of her, sending her to discover the places where suffering could be
stilled, poverty softened.
This active benevolence, carried on with strict attention to religious
duties, was hidden in the deepest secrecy and directed by the various
rectors in the town, with whom Veronique had a full understanding in
all her charitable deeds, so as not to suffer the money so needed for
unmerited misfortunes to fall into the hands of vice. It was during
this period of her life that she won a friendship quite as strong and
quite as precious as that of old Grossetete. She became the beloved
lamb of a distinguished priest, who was persecuted for his true
merits, which were wholly misunderstood, one of the two grand-vicars
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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 Astoria by Washington Irving: The vast prairie is to the one what the ocean is to the other, a
boundless field of enterprise and exploit. However he may have
suffered in his last cruise, he is always ready to join a new
expedition; and the more adventurous its nature, the more
attractive is it to his vagrant spirit.
Nothing seems to have kept Colter from continuing with the party
to the shores of the Pacific but the circumstances of his having
recently married. All the morning he kept with them, balancing in
his mind the charms of his bride against those of the Rocky
Mountains; the former, however, prevailed, and after a march of
several miles, he took a reluctant leave of the travellers, and
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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 Idylls of the King by Alfred Tennyson: 'Far other was the song that once I heard
By this huge oak, sung nearly where we sit:
For here we met, some ten or twelve of us,
To chase a creature that was current then
In these wild woods, the hart with golden horns.
It was the time when first the question rose
About the founding of a Table Round,
That was to be, for love of God and men
And noble deeds, the flower of all the world.
And each incited each to noble deeds.
And while we waited, one, the youngest of us,
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