| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from My Antonia by Willa Cather: It was just my point that I saw altogether too much of the people we knew.
My bedroom was on the ground floor, and as I studied there,
I had a stove in it. I used to retire to my room early on
Saturday night, change my shirt and collar and put on my Sunday coat.
I waited until all was quiet and the old people were asleep,
then raised my window, climbed out, and went softly through the yard.
The first time I deceived my grandparents I felt rather shabby,
perhaps even the second time, but I soon ceased to think about it.
The dance at the Firemen's Hall was the one thing I looked forward
to all the week. There I met the same people I used to see at
the Vannis' tent. Sometimes there were Bohemians from Wilber,
My Antonia |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Footnote to History by Robert Louis Stevenson: she had brought disaster to her foes; now she was bringing it to
friends. She had already proved the ruin of the OLGA, the one ship
that had rid out the hurricane in safety; now she beheld across her
course the submerged VANDALIA, the tops filled with exhausted
seamen. Happily the approach of the TRENTON was gradual, and the
time employed to advantage. Rockets and lines were thrown into the
tops of the friendly wreck; the approach of danger was transformed
into a means of safety; and before the ships struck, the men from
the VANDALIA'S main and mizzen masts, which went immediately by the
board in the collision, were already mustered on the TRENTON'S
decks. Those from the foremast were next rescued; and the flagship
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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: inexperienced junior, for a word of warning:
"You look out as you come alongside that she doesn't take you down
with her. You understand?"
He murmured this confidentially, so that none of the men at the
falls should overhear, and I was shocked. "Heavens! as if in such
an emergency one stopped to think of danger!" I exclaimed to myself
mentally, in scorn of such cold-blooded caution.
It takes many lessons to make a real seaman, and I got my rebuke at
once. My experienced commander seemed in one searching glance to
read my thoughts on my ingenuous face.
"What you're going for is to save life, not to drown your boat's
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 The Talisman by Walter Scott: flint, that thou art!" exclaimed the King.--"It is we
Plantagenets who boast soft and feeling hearts, Edith," turning
to his cousin with an expression which called the blood into her
cheek, "give me thy hand, my fair cousin, and, Prince of
Scotland, thine."
"Forbear, my lord," said Edith, hanging back, and endeavouring to
hide her confusion under an attempt to rally her royal kinsman's
credulity. "Remember you not that my hand was to be the signal
of converting to the Christian faith the Saracen and Arab,
Saladin and all his turbaned host?"
"Ay, but the wind of prophecy hath chopped about, and sits now in
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