| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Art of Writing by Robert Louis Stevenson: It was probably from this barbaric love of repeating the same
sound, rather than from any design of clearness, that he
acquired his irritating habit of repeating words; I say the
one rather than the other, because such a trick of the ear is
deeper-seated and more original in man than any logical
consideration. Few writers, indeed, are probably conscious
of the length to which they push this melody of letters.
One, writing very diligently, and only concerned about the
meaning of his words and the rhythm of his phrases, was
struck into amazement by the eager triumph with which he
cancelled one expression to substitute another. Neither
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Rescue by Joseph Conrad: very quiet. Daman looked at them mutely and ardently, as if
consumed by an unspeakable longing.
The Koran, in a silk cover, hung on his breast by a crimson cord.
It rested over his heart and, just below, the plain buffalo-horn
handle of a kris, stuck into the twist of his sarong, protruded
ready to his hand. The clouds thickening over the camp made the
darkness press heavily on the glow of scattered fires. "There is
blood between me and the whites," he pronounced, violently. The
Illanun chiefs remained impassive. There was blood between them
and all mankind. Hassim remarked dispassionately that there was
one white man with whom it would be wise to remain friendly; and
The Rescue |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from War and the Future by H. G. Wells: necessary to set up an International Boundary Commission, subject
to certain defining conditions agreed upon by the belligerents,
to re-draw the map of Europe, Asia, and Africa. This war does
afford an occasion such as the world may never have again of
tracing out the "natural map" of mankind, the map that will
secure the maximum of homogeneity and the minimum of racial and
economic freedom. All idealistic people hope for a restored
Poland. But it is a childish thing to dream of a contented
Poland with Posen still under the Prussian heel, with Cracow cut
off, and without a Baltic port. These claims of Poland to
completeness have a higher sanction than the mere give and take
|
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 Droll Stories, V. 1 by Honore de Balzac: silk machinery manufacturer who was small in stature, deformed for
life, and full of wickedness. So on the wedding-day he said to the
dyer, "You have done well to marry, my friend, we shall have a pretty
wife!"; and a thousand sly jokes, such as it is usual to address to a
bridegroom.
In fact, this hunchback courted the dyer's wife, who from her nature,
caring little for badly built people, laughed to scorn the request of
the mechanician, and joked him about the springs, engines, and spools
of which his shop was full. However, this great love of the hunchback
was rebuffed by nothing, and became so irksome to the dyer's wife that
she resolved to cure it by a thousand practical jokes. One evening,
Droll Stories, V. 1 |
