| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Tin Woodman of Oz by L. Frank Baum: oil my other joints."
Woot seized the oil-can and did this, but all the
others helped wiggle the soldier's joints as soon as
they were oiled, until they moved freely.
The Tin Soldier seemed highly pleased at his release.
He strutted up and down the path, saying in a high,
thin voice:
"The Soldier is a splendid man
When marching on parade,
And when he meets the enemy
He never is afraid.
The Tin Woodman of Oz |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin: after some preliminary remarks, I will discuss a few of the most striking
classes of facts; namely, the existence of the same species on the summits
of distant mountain-ranges, and at distant points in the arctic and
antarctic regions; and secondly (in the following chapter), the wide
distribution of freshwater productions; and thirdly, the occurrence of the
same terrestrial species on islands and on the mainland, though separated
by hundreds of miles of open sea. If the existence of the same species at
distant and isolated points of the earth's surface, can in many instances
be explained on the view of each species having migrated from a single
birthplace; then, considering our ignorance with respect to former climatal
and geographical changes and various occasional means of transport, the
On the Origin of Species |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Aspern Papers by Henry James: She stopped short, looking at me with wonder; and then, "Nothing here
is mine," she answered in English, coldly and sadly.
"Oh, you are English; how delightful!" I remarked, ingenuously.
"But surely the garden belongs to the house?"
"Yes, but the house doesn't belong to me." She was a long,
lean, pale person, habited apparently in a dull-colored
dressing gown, and she spoke with a kind of mild literalness.
She did not ask me to sit down, any more than years before
(if she were the niece) she had asked Mrs. Prest, and we stood
face to face in the empty pompous hall.
"Well then, would you kindly tell me to whom I must address myself?
|
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 Mysterious Island by Jules Verne: Spilett, on the engineer's advice, had drawn the outline, they found that it
resembled some fantastic animal, a monstrous leviathan, which lay sleeping
on the surface of the Pacific.
This was in fact the exact shape of the island, which it is of
consequence to know, and a tolerably correct map of it was immediately
drawn by the reporter.
The east part of the shore, where the castaways had landed, formed a wide
bay, terminated by a sharp cape, which had been concealed by a high point
from Pencroft on his first exploration. At the northeast two other capes
closed the bay, and between them ran a narrow gulf, which looked like the
half-open jaws of a formidable dog-fish.
The Mysterious Island |
