| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Nietzsche: and vulgarizing of taste. FIRSTLY, the capacity for artistic
emotion, for devotion to "form," for which the expression, L'ART
POUR L'ART, along with numerous others, has been invented:--such
capacity has not been lacking in France for three centuries; and
owing to its reverence for the "small number," it has again and
again made a sort of chamber music of literature possible, which
is sought for in vain elsewhere in Europe.--The SECOND thing
whereby the French can lay claim to a superiority over Europe is
their ancient, many-sided, MORALISTIC culture, owing to which one
finds on an average, even in the petty ROMANCIERS of the
newspapers and chance BOULEVARDIERS DE PARIS, a psychological
Beyond Good and Evil |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Mrs. Warren's Profession by George Bernard Shaw: PRAED. Hush, pray. Theyre coming.
[The clergyman and Crofts are seen coming along the road,
followed by Mrs Warren and Vivie walking affectionately
together.]
FRANK. Look: she actually has her arm round the old woman's
waist. It's her right arm: she began it. She's gone
sentimental, by God! Ugh! ugh! Now do you feel the creeps?
[The clergyman opens the gate: and Mrs Warren and Vivie pass him
and stand in the middle of the garden looking at the house.
Frank, in an ecstasy of dissimulation, turns gaily to Mrs Warren,
exclaiming] Ever so delighted to see you, Mrs Warren. This quiet
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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 Othello by William Shakespeare: Rod. With him? Why, 'tis not possible
Iago. Lay thy finger thus: and let thy soule be instructed.
Marke me with what violence she first lou'd
the Moore, but for bragging, and telling her fantasticall
lies. To loue him still for prating, let not thy discreet
heart thinke it. Her eye must be fed. And what delight
shall she haue to looke on the diuell? When the Blood
is made dull with the Act of Sport, there should be a
game to enflame it, and to giue Satiety a fresh appetite.
Louelinesse in fauour, simpathy in yeares, Manners,
and Beauties: all which the Moore is defectiue in. Now
Othello |
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 De Profundis by Oscar Wilde: There is nothing that stirs in the whole world of thought to which
sorrow does not vibrate in terrible and exquisite pulsation. The
thin beaten-out leaf of tremulous gold that chronicles the
direction of forces the eye cannot see is in comparison coarse. It
is a wound that bleeds when any hand but that of love touches it,
and even then must bleed again, though not in pain.
Where there is sorrow there in holy ground. Some day people will
realise what that means. They will know nothing of life till they
do, - and natures like his can realise it. When I was brought down
from my prison to the Court of Bankruptcy, between two policemen, -
waited in the long dreary corridor that, before the whole crowd,
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