| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Early Short Fiction of Edith Wharton by Edith Wharton: estate of Mongirone. His wife owned a large property near Siena,
and Count Ottaviano, who was the second son, came there from time
to time to look into its management. The eldest son was in the
army, the youngest in the Church; and an aunt of Count
Ottaviano's was Mother Superior of the Visitandine convent in
Siena. At one time it had been said that Count Ottaviano, who
was a most amiable and accomplished young man, was to marry the
daughter of the strange Englishman, Doctor Lombard, but
difficulties having arisen as to the adjustment of the young
lady's dower, Count Celsi-Mongirone had very properly broken off
the match. It was sad for the young man, however, who was said
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Voyage to Arcturus by David Lindsay: sit down, utterly crushed by his own dead weight. Still, he got to
the third window.
He climbed into the embrasure. His feelings translated themselves
into vision, and he saw a sight that caused him to turn pale. A
gigantic, self-luminous sphere was hanging in the sky, occupying
nearly the whole of it. This sphere was composed entirely of two
kinds of active beings. There were a myriad of tiny green
corpuscles, varying in size from the very small to the almost
indiscernible. They were not green, but he somehow saw them so.
They were all striving in one direction - toward himself, toward
Muspel, but were too feeble and miniature to make any headway. Their
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from A Pair of Blue Eyes by Thomas Hardy: lost a little dignity by the proceeding.
'You are too familiar; and I can't have it! Considering the
shortness of the time we have known each other, Mr. Smith, you
take too much upon you. You think I am a country girl, and it
doesn't matter how you behave to me!'
'I assure you, Miss Swancourt, that I had no idea of freak in my
mind. I wanted to imprint a sweet--serious kiss upon your hand;
and that's all.'
'Now, that's creeping round again! And you mustn't look into my
eyes so,' she said, shaking her head at him, and trotting on a few
paces in advance. Thus she led the way out of the lane and across
A Pair of Blue Eyes |
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 Salammbo by Gustave Flaubert: abundance of his garments, his great necklace of blue stones, his
golden clasps, and heavy earrings only rendered his deformity still
more hideous. He might have been taken for some big idol rough-hewn in
a block of stone; for a pale leprosy, which was spread over his whole
body, gave him the appearance of an inert thing. His nose, however,
which was hooked like a vulture's beak, was violently dilated to
breathe in the air, and his little eyes, with their gummed lashes,
shone with a hard and metallic lustre. He held a spatula of aloe-wood
in his hand wherewith to scratch his skin.
At last two heralds sounded their silver horns; the tumult subsided,
and Hanno commenced to speak.
Salammbo |
