| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Woman of No Importance by Oscar Wilde: Miss Hester Worsley, Miss Julia Neilson
Alice, Maid, Miss Kelly
Mrs. Arbuthnot, Mrs. Bernard-Beere
FIRST ACT
SCENE
Lawn in front of the terrace at Hunstanton.
[SIR JOHN and LADY CAROLINE PONTEFRACT, MISS WORSLEY, on chairs
under large yew tree.]
LADY CAROLINE. I believe this is the first English country house
you have stayed at, Miss Worsley?
HESTER. Yes, Lady Caroline.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Adam Bede by George Eliot: gentlemen to smirk and bow over their wine-glasses. Bartle
Massey, whose ears were rather sensitive, had gone out to see what
sort of evening it was at an early stage in the ceremony, and had
not finished his contemplation until a silence of five minutes
declared that "Drink, boys, drink!" was not likely to begin again
for the next twelvemonth. Much to the regret of the boys and
Totty: on them the stillness fell rather flat, after that glorious
thumping of the table, towards which Totty, seated on her father's
knee, contributed with her small might and small fist.
When Bartle re-entered, however, there appeared to be a general
desire for solo music after the choral. Nancy declared that Tim
Adam Bede |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Before Adam by Jack London: People.
This abiding-place was a splendid strategic selection.
It was a peninsula, protected on three sides by the
curving river. On only one side was it accessible by
land. This was the narrow neck of the peninsula, and
here the several low hills were a natural obstacle.
Practically isolated from the rest of the world, the
Fire People must have here lived and prospered for a
long time. In fact, I think it was their prosperity
that was responsible for the subsequent migration that
worked such calamity upon the Folk. The Fire People
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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 Symposium by Plato: tragedy ought to be a writer of comedy also. And first Aristophanes drops,
and then, as the day is dawning, Agathon. Socrates, having laid them to
rest, takes a bath and goes to his daily avocations until the evening.
Aristodemus follows.
...
If it be true that there are more things in the Symposium of Plato than any
commentator has dreamed of, it is also true that many things have been
imagined which are not really to be found there. Some writings hardly
admit of a more distinct interpretation than a musical composition; and
every reader may form his own accompaniment of thought or feeling to the
strain which he hears. The Symposium of Plato is a work of this character,
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