| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Lady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence: you forgot instantly the open, rolling country where the castles and
big houses still dominated, but like ghosts. Now you were just above
the tangle of naked railway-lines, and foundries and other 'works' rose
about you, so big you were only aware of walls. And iron clanked with a
huge reverberating clank, and huge lorries shook the earth, and
whistles screamed.
Yet again, once you had got right down and into the twisted and crooked
heart of the town, behind the church, you were in the world of two
centuries ago, in the crooked streets where the Chatterley Arms stood,
and the old pharmacy, streets which used to lead Out to the wild open
world of the castles and stately couchant houses.
Lady Chatterley's Lover |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Europeans by Henry James: Here she paused a moment, gave a pinch to her waist with her
two hands, or raised these members--they were very plump and pretty--
to the multifold braids of her hair, with a movement half caressing,
half corrective. An attentive observer might have fancied
that during these periods of desultory self-inspection her face
forgot its melancholy; but as soon as she neared the window again
it began to proclaim that she was a very ill-pleased woman.
And indeed, in what met her eyes there was little to be
pleased with. The window-panes were battered by the sleet;
the head-stones in the grave-yard beneath seemed to be
holding themselves askance to keep it out of their faces.
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