| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Padre Ignacio by Owen Wister: at least had been kept up to the end; the youth would never know of the
elder man's unrest.
V
Temptation had arrived with Gaston, but was destined to make a longer
stay at Santa Ysabel del Mar. Yet it was perhaps a week before the priest
knew this guest was come to abide with him. The guest could be discreet,
could withdraw, was not at first importunate.
Sail away on the barkentine? A wild notion, to be sure! although fit
enough to enter the brain of such a young scape-grace. The Padre shook
his head and smiled affectionately when he thought of Gaston Villere. The
youth's handsome, reckless countenance would shine out, smiling, in his
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Life in the Iron-Mills by Rebecca Davis: His ankles Were ironed. Not usual in such cases; but he had
made two desperate efforts to escape. "Well," as Haley, the
jailer, said, "small blame to him! Nineteen years' inprisonment
was not a pleasant thing to look forward to." Haley was very
good-natured about it, though Wolfe had fought him savagely.
"When he was first caught," the jailer said afterwards, in
telling the story, "before the trial, the fellow was cut down at
once,--laid there on that pallet like a dead man, with his hands
over his eyes. Never saw a man so cut down in my life. Time of
the trial, too, came the queerest dodge of any customer I ever
had. Would choose no lawyer. Judge gave him one, of course.
Life in the Iron-Mills |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from A Passion in the Desert by Honore de Balzac: been in war in Germany, in Spain, in Russia, in France; I've certainly
carried my carcase about a good deal, but never have I seen anything
like the desert. Ah! yes, it is very beautiful!'
" 'What did you feel there?' I asked him.
"'Oh! that can't be described, young man! Besides, I am not always
regretting my palm trees and my panther. I should have to be very
melancholy for that. In the desert, you see, there is everything and
nothing.'
" 'Yes, but explain----'
" 'Well,' he said, with an impatient gesture, 'it is God without
mankind.' "
|
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 Sons and Lovers by D. H. Lawrence: Something in him hated her again for submitting him to this torture
of nearness. And he loved her as she balanced her head and stared
straight in front of her, pouting, wistful, immobile, as if she
yielded herself to her fate because it was too strong for her.
She could not help herself; she was in the grip of something
bigger than herself. A kind of eternal look about her, as if she
were a wistful sphinx, made it necessary for him to kiss her.
He dropped his programme, and crouched down on the floor to get it,
so that he could kiss her hand and wrist. Her beauty was a torture
to him. She sat immobile. Only, when the lights went down,
she sank a little against him, and he caressed her hand and arm
Sons and Lovers |
