| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Resurrection by Leo Tolstoy: poisoning case, and had already formed a plan of action. He only
wanted to copy out a few points which he required.
The secretary sat on the opposite side of the platform, and,
having got ready all the papers he might want, was looking
through an article, prohibited by the censor, which he had
procured and read the day before. He was anxious to have a talk
about this article with the bearded member, who shared his views,
but wanted to look through it once more before doing so.
CHAPTER VIII.
SWEARING IN THE JURY.
The president, having looked through some papers and put a few
Resurrection |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Helen of Troy And Other Poems by Sara Teasdale: Across the dimly lighted room
The violin drew wefts of sound,
Airily they wove and wound
And glimmered gold against the gloom.
I watched the music turn to light,
But at the pausing of the bow,
The web was broken and the glow
Was drowned within the wave of night.
Twilight
Dreamily over the roofs
The cold spring rain is falling,
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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 The Man against the Sky by Edwin Arlington Robinson: I'm over here to tell you what you are, Jane Wayland,
And to make you rather sorry, I should say, for being so." --
"Tell me what you're saying to me now, John Gorham,
Or you'll never see as much of me as ribbons any more;
I'll vanish in as many ways as I have toes and fingers,
And you'll not follow far for one where flocks have been before." --
"I'm sorry now you never saw the flocks, Jane Wayland,
But you're the one to make of them as many as you need.
And then about the vanishing. It's I who mean to vanish;
And when I'm here no longer you'll be done with me indeed." --
"That's a way to tell me what I am, John Gorham!
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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 Symposium by Xenophon: Well, let that be (the other answered); answer me one question: How
many fleas' feet distance is it, pray, from you to me?[12] They say
you measure them by geometric scale.
[12] See Aristoph. "Clouds," 144 foll.:
{aneret' arti Khairephonta Sokrates
psullan oposous alloito tous autes podas
dakousa gar . . .}
Cf. Lucian, ii. "Prom. in Verb. 6," and "Hudibras, the Second Part
of," canto iii.:
How many scores a Flea will jump
Of his own length from Head to Rump
The Symposium |
