| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Within the Tides by Joseph Conrad: wanted me to tell her what I did at first when I came out here;
what other men found to do when they came out - where they went,
what was likely to happen to them - as if I could guess and
foretell from my experience the fates of men who come out here with
a hundred different projects, for hundreds of different reasons -
for no reason but restlessness - who come, and go, and disappear!
Preposterous. She seemed to want to hear their histories. I told
her that most of them were not worth telling."
The distinguished journalist leaning on his elbow, his head resting
against the knuckles of his left hand, listened with great
attention, but gave no sign of that surprise which Renouard,
Within the Tides |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Tin Woodman of Oz by L. Frank Baum: indignantly. "I could have been King myself, had I
wanted to, but I didn't care for the hard work and
responsibility."
As he said this, the big Loon strutted back and forth
in the space between the throne of King Bal and the
prisoners, and the other Loons seemed much impressed by
his defiance. But suddenly there came a sharp report
and Panta Loon instantly disappeared, to the great
astonishment of the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman and Woot
the Wanderer, who saw on the spot where the big fellow
had stood a little heap of flabby, wrinkled skin that
The Tin Woodman of Oz |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Voyage of the Beagle by Charles Darwin: James Island, and the sixth from one of the three latter
islands, but it is not known from which: not one of these six
species grows on any two islands. Again, Euphorbia, a mundane
or widely distributed genus, has here eight species, of
which seven are confined to the archipelago, and not one
found on any two islands: Acalypha and Borreria, both mundane
genera, have respectively six and seven species, none
of which have the same species on two islands, with the
exception of one Borreria, which does occur on two islands.
The species of the Compositae are particularly local; and Dr.
Hooker has furnished me with several other most striking
The Voyage of the Beagle |
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 Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen: (my eldest brother) is quite delightful--and especially
as it turns out that the very family we are just got
so intimate with are his intimate friends already.
Oh! Who can ever be tired of Bath?"
"Not those who bring such fresh feelings of every
sort to it as you do. But papas and mammas, and brothers,
and intimate friends are a good deal gone by, to most of
the frequenters of Bath--and the honest relish of balls
and plays, and everyday sights, is past with them."
Here their conversation closed, the demands of the dance
becoming now too importunate for a divided attention.
Northanger Abbey |
