| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Waste Land by T. S. Eliot: London Bridge is falling down falling down falling down
_Poi s'ascose nel foco che gli affina
Quando fiam ceu chelidon_ -- O swallow swallow
_Le Prince d'Aquitaine à la tour abolie_
These fragments I have shored against my ruins 430
Why then Ile fit you. Hieronymo's mad againe.
Datta. Dayadhvam. Damyata.
Shantih shantih shantih
Line 415 aetherial] aethereal
Line 428 ceu] uti -- Editor
NOTES
The Waste Land |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Mayflower Compact: as shall be thought most meete and convenient for the
Generall Good of the Colonie; unto which we promise
all due Submission and Obedience.
In Witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names
at Cape Cod the eleventh of November, in the Raigne of our
Sovereigne Lord, King James of England, France, and Ireland,
the eighteenth, and of Scotland, the fiftie-fourth,
Anno. Domini, 1620.
Mr. John Carver Mr. Stephen Hopkins
Mr. William Bradford Digery Priest
Mr. Edward Winslow Thomas Williams
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Youth by Joseph Conrad: as though he had been trying to speak with his mouth
shut, informed me, 'Coming directly, sir,' and vanished.
For a long time I heard nothing but the whir and roar
of the fire. There were also whistling sounds. The boats
jumped, tugged at the painters, ran at each other play-
fully, knocked their sides together, or, do what we would,
swung in a bunch against the ship's side. I couldn't
stand it any longer, and swarming up a rope, clambered
aboard over the stern.
"It was as bright as day. Coming up like this, the
sheet of fire facing me, was a terrifying sight, and the
Youth |
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 Hiero by Xenophon: them; the incontinent, as satisfied with momentary license; and the
slavish-natured, for the simple reason that they have not themselves
the slightest aspiration after freedom.[4]
[3] Or, "the dishonest, the lascivious, and the servile."
[4] "They have no aspiration even to be free," "they are content to
wallow in the slough of despond." The {adikoi} (unjust) correspond
to the {dikaioi} (just), {akrateis} (incontinent) to the {sophoi}
(wise) (Breit. cf. "Mem." III. ix. 4, {sophian de kai sophrosunen
ou diorizen}), {andrapododeis} (servile) to the {kasmioi},
{andreioi} (orderly, courageous).
This, then, I say, appears to me a sore affliction, that we should
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