| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Rescue by Joseph Conrad: cathedral. Lingard gave a start and thought--I've dreamed
this--and directly the sea said very close to him, "Give a rope."
The thunder growled wickedly, and Lingard, after shouting to the
men on deck, peered down at the water, until at last he made out
floating close alongside the upturned face of a man with staring
eyes that gleamed at him and then blinked quickly to a flash of
lightning. By that time all hands in the brig were wildly active
and many ropes-ends had been thrown over. Then together with a
gust of wind, and, as if blown on board, a man tumbled over the
rail and fell all in a heap upon the deck. Before any one had the
time to pick him up, he leaped to his feet, causing the people
The Rescue |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Options by O. Henry: here deeper than the artistic temperament offended at crude
lithography.
Hetty knew. She had accepted her role long ago. How scant the words
with which we try to describe a single quality of a human being! When
we reach the abstract we are lost. The nearer to Nature that the
babbling of our lips comes, the better do we understand. Figuratively
(let us say), some people are Bosoms, some are Hands, some are Heads,
some are Muscles, some are Feet, some are Backs for burdens.
Hetty was a Shoulder. Hers was a sharp, sinewy shoulder; but all her
life people had laid their heads upon it, metaphorically or actually,
and had left there all or half their troubles. Looking at Life
Options |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Dark Lady of the Sonnets by George Bernard Shaw: sprawling an the flags]._ Take that, both of you!
THE CLOAKED LADY. _[in towering wrath, throwing off her cloak and
turning in outraged majesty on her assailant]_ High treason!
THE DARK LADY. _[recognizing her and falling on her knees in abject
terror]_ Will: I am lost: I have struck the Queen.
THE MAN. _[sitting up as majestically as his ignominious posture
allows]_ Woman: you have struck WILLIAM SHAKESPEAR.
QUEEN ELIZABETH. _[stupent]_ Marry, come up!!! Struck William
Shakespear quotha! And who in the name of all the sluts and jades and
light-o'-loves and fly-by-nights that infest this palace of mine, may
William Shakespear be?
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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 The Hidden Masterpiece by Honore de Balzac: painter. I shall have the strength to burn my Nut-girl ere I render my
last sigh; but suffer her to endure the glance of a man, a young man,
a painter?--No, no! I would kill on the morrow the man who polluted
her with a look! I would kill you,--you, my friend,--if you did not
worship her on your knees; and think you I would submit my idol to the
cold eyes and stupid criticisms of fools? Ah, love is a mystery! its
life is in the depths of the soul; it dies when a man says, even to
his friend, Here is she whom I love."
The old man seemed to renew his youth; his eyes had the brilliancy and
fire of life, his pale cheeks blushed a vivid red, his hands trembled.
Porbus, amazed by the passionate violence with which he uttered these
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