| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Crowd by Gustave le Bon: is always intellectually inferior to the isolated individual, but
that, from the point of view of feelings and of the acts these
feelings provoke, the crowd may, according to circumstances, he
better or worse than the individual. All depends on the nature
of the suggestion to which the crowd is exposed. This is the
point that has been completely misunderstood by writers who have
only studied crowds from the criminal point of view. Doubtless a
crowd is often criminal, but also it is often heroic. It is
crowds rather than isolated individuals that may be induced to
run the risk of death to secure the triumph of a creed or an
idea, that may be fired with enthusiasm for glory and honour,
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Enoch Arden, &c. by Alfred Tennyson: Both crown'd with stars and high among the stars,--
The Virgin Mother standing with her child
High up on one of those dark minster-fronts--
Till she began to totter, and the child
Clung to the mother, and sent out a cry
Which mixt with little Margaret's, and I woke,
And my dream awed me:--well--but what are dreams?
Yours came but from the breaking of a glass,
And mine but from the crying of a child.'
`Child? No!' said he, `but this tide's roar, and his,
Our Boanerges with his threats of doom,
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Madam How and Lady Why by Charles Kingsley: up the cliff, and by the rain which wore the sand into furrowed
pinnacles and peaks. You recollect the beautiful place, and how,
when we looked back down it we saw between the miniature mountain
walls the bright blue sea, and heard it murmur on the sands
outside. So I verily believe we might have done, if we had stood
somewhere at the bottom of this glen thousands of years ago. We
should have seen the sea in front of us; or rather, an arm of the
sea; for Finchampstead ridges opposite, instead of being covered
with farms, and woodlands, and purple heath above, would have been
steep cliffs of sand and clay, just like those you see at
Bournemouth now; and--what would have spoilt somewhat the beauty
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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 The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald: Miss Baker nodded.
"She might have the decency not to telephone him at dinner time. Don't
you think?"
Almost before I had grasped her meaning there was the flutter of
a dress and the crunch of leather boots, and Tom and Daisy were back
at the table.
"It couldn't be helped!" cried Daisy with tense gaiety.
She sat down, glanced searchingly at Miss Baker and then at me, and
continued: "I looked outdoors for a minute, and it's very romantic
outdoors. There's a bird on the lawn that I think must be a nightingale
come over on the Cunard or White Star Line. He's singing away----" Her
The Great Gatsby |
