| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Philosophy 4 by Owen Wister: out smoothly. Then the cause of all this spoke to them from a gate.
"Come as near spillin' as you boys wanted, I guess," remarked the cause.
They looked, and saw him in huge white shirt-sleeves, shaking with
joviality. "If you kep' at it long enough you might a-most learn to
drive a horse," he continued, eying Bertie. This came as near direct
praise as the true son of our soil--Northern or Southern--often thinks
well of. Bertie was pleased, but made a modest observation, and "Are we
near the tavern?" he asked. "Bird-in-Hand!" the son of the soil echoed;
and he contemplated them from his gate. That's me," he stated, with
complacence. "Bill Diggs of the Bird-in-Hand has been me since April,
'65." His massy hair had been yellow, his broad body must have weighed
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Mirror of the Sea by Joseph Conrad: thing that surprises me is that the sticks have stuck to her all
this time."
Ultimately some of the minor spars did go - nothing important:
spanker-booms and such-like - because at times the frightful
impetus of her rolling would part a fourfold tackle of new three-
inch Manilla line as if it were weaker than pack-thread.
It was only poetic justice that the chief mate who had made a
mistake - perhaps a half-excusable one - about the distribution of
his ship's cargo should pay the penalty. A piece of one of the
minor spars that did carry away flew against the chief mate's back,
and sent him sliding on his face for quite a considerable distance
The Mirror of the Sea |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Oedipus Trilogy by Sophocles: CHORUS
(Str.)
If my soul prophetic err not, if my wisdom aught avail,
Thee, Cithaeron, I shall hail,
As the nurse and foster-mother of our Oedipus shall greet
Ere tomorrow's full moon rises, and exalt thee as is meet.
Dance and song shall hymn thy praises, lover of our royal race.
Phoebus, may my words find grace!
(Ant.)
Child, who bare thee, nymph or goddess? sure thy sure was more than
man,
Oedipus Trilogy |
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 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne: and he looked as if he magnified the objects lessened by distance, as if
he pierced those sheets of water so opaque to our eyes, and as if he read
the very depths of the seas.
The two strangers, with caps made from the fur of the sea otter,
and shod with sea boots of seal's skin, were dressed in clothes
of a particular texture, which allowed free movement of the limbs.
The taller of the two, evidently the chief on board, examined us
with great attention, without saying a word; then, turning to
his companion, talked with him in an unknown tongue.
It was a sonorous, harmonious, and flexible dialect, the vowels
seeming to admit of very varied accentuation.
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea |
