| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Country of the Pointed Firs by Sarah Orne Jewett: Even the children were ready to march together, a pretty flock, and
at the last moment Mrs. Blackett and a few distinguished
companions, the ministers and those who were very old, came out of
the house together and took their places. We ranked by fours, and
even then we made a long procession.
There was a wide path mowed for us across the field, and, as
we moved along, the birds flew up out of the thick second crop of
clover, and the bees hummed as if it still were June. There was a
flashing of white gulls over the water where the fleet of boats
rode the low waves together in the cove, swaying their small masts
as if they kept time to our steps. The plash of the water could be
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Enchanted Island of Yew by L. Frank Baum: for pillows, where they managed to sleep soundly until morning.
They had brought a supply of food in their pouches, and on this they
breakfasted, afterward continuing their journey beside the hedge.
At noon Prince Marvel uttered an exclamation of surprise and stopped
his horse.
"What is it?" asked Nerle.
"I have found the handkerchief with which you wiped the blood from
your hands yesterday morning, and then carelessly dropped," replied
the prince. "This proves that we have made a complete circle around
this hedge without finding a way to pass through it."
"In that case," said Nerle, "we had better leave the hedge and go in
The Enchanted Island of Yew |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from De Profundis by Oscar Wilde: I carefully eat whatever crumbs may be left on my tin plate, or
have fallen on the rough towel that one uses as a cloth so as not
to soil one's table; and I do so not from hunger - I get now quite
sufficient food - but simply in order that nothing should be wasted
of what is given to me. So one should look on love.
Christ, like all fascinating personalities, had the power of not
merely saying beautiful things himself, but of making other people
say beautiful things to him; and I love the story St. Mark tells us
about the Greek woman, who, when as a trial of her faith he said to
her that he could not give her the bread of the children of Israel,
answered him that the little dogs - ([Greek text which cannot 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 Prufrock/Other Observations by T. S. Eliot: The night and moonshine; music which we seize
To body forth our own vacuity."
She then: "Does this refer to me?"
"Oh no, it is I who am inane."
"You, madam, are the eternal humorist
The eternal enemy of the absolute,
Giving our vagrant moods the slightest twist
With your air indifferent and imperious
At a stroke our mad poetics to confute--"
And--"Are we then so serious?"
Prufrock/Other Observations |
