| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from 1984 by George Orwell: often very subtle expression to every meaning that a Party member could
properly wish to express, while excluding all other meanings and also the
possibility of arriving at them by indirect methods. This was done partly
by the invention of new words, but chiefly by eliminating undesirable
words and by stripping such words as remained of unorthodox meanings, and
so far as possible of all secondary meanings whatever. To give a single
example. The word FREE still existed in Newspeak, but it could only be
used in such statements as 'This dog is free from lice' or 'This field is
free from weeds'. It could not be used in its old sense of 'politically
free' or 'intellectually free' since political and intellectual freedom no
longer existed even as concepts, and were therefore of necessity nameless.
1984 |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Poems by Bronte Sisters: Why will you play those simple tunes
So often o'er again?
"Indeed, dear friends, I can but say
That childhood's thoughts are gone;
Each year its own new feelings brings,
And years move swiftly on:
"And for these little simple airs--
I love to play them o'er
So much--I dare not promise, now,
To play them never more."
I answered--and it was enough;
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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 Bureaucracy by Honore de Balzac: judgment, Rabourdin knew that it was all-powerful; and he knew, too,
that he was crushed. More surprised than overwhelmed, he now sought
for the best course to follow under the circumstances; and with such
thoughts in his mind he was necessarily aloof from the excitement
caused in the division by the death of Monsieur de la Billardiere; in
fact he did not hear of it until young La Briere, who was able to
appreciate his sterling value, came to tell him. About ten o'clock, in
the bureau Baudoyer, Bixiou was relating the last moments of the life
of the director to Minard, Desroys, Monsieur Godard, whom he had
called from his private office, and Dutocq, who had rushed in with
private motives of his own. Colleville and Chazelle were absent.
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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 Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson by Robert Louis Stevenson: I judge the best, whate'er befall,
Is still to sit on one's behind,
And, having duly moistened all,
Smoke with an unperturbed mind.
R. L. S.
Letter: TO THOMAS STEVENSON
[HOTEL BELVEDERE], DAVOS, DECEMBER 12 [1880].
MY DEAR FATHER, - Here is the scheme as well as I can foresee. I
begin the book immediately after the '15, as then began the attempt
to suppress the Highlands.
I. THIRTY YEARS' INTERVAL
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