| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Frankenstein by Mary Shelley: the father inexorable, quitted his country, nor returned until he heard
that his former mistress was married according to her inclinations.
"What a noble fellow!" you will exclaim. He is so; but then he is
wholly uneducated: he is as silent as a Turk, and a kind of ignorant
carelessness attends him, which, while it renders his conduct the
more astonishing, detracts from the interest and sympathy which
otherwise he would command.
Yet do not suppose, because I complain a little or because I
can conceive a consolation for my toils which I may never know,
that I am wavering in my resolutions. Those are as fixed as fate,
and my voyage is only now delayed until the weather shall permit
Frankenstein |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain: didn't look pretty safe for two. I says:
"Oh, you needn't be afeard, sir, she carried the
three of us easy enough."
"What three?"
"Why, me and Sid, and -- and -- and THE GUNS;
that's what I mean."
"Oh," he says.
But he put his foot on the gunnel and rocked her,
and shook his head, and said he reckoned he'd look
around for a bigger one. But they was all locked and
chained; so he took my canoe, and said for me to wait
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Silas Marner by George Eliot: able to pay it you before this."
The Squire was purple with anger before his son had done speaking,
and found utterance difficult. "You let Dunsey have it, sir? And
how long have you been so thick with Dunsey that you must _collogue_
with him to embezzle my money? Are you turning out a scamp? I tell
you I won't have it. I'll turn the whole pack of you out of the
house together, and marry again. I'd have you to remember, sir, my
property's got no entail on it;--since my grandfather's time the
Casses can do as they like with their land. Remember that, sir.
Let Dunsey have the money! Why should you let Dunsey have the
money? There's some lie at the bottom of it."
Silas Marner |
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 Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen: ill-timed conversation. She was first called to observe
and approve him farther, by a reflection which Elinor
chanced one day to make on the difference between him
and his sister. It was a contrast which recommended him
most forcibly to her mother.
"It is enough," said she; "to say that he is unlike
Fanny is enough. It implies everything amiable.
I love him already."
"I think you will like him," said Elinor, "when you
know more of him."
"Like him!" replied her mother with a smile.
Sense and Sensibility |
