| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Virginian by Owen Wister: this deep from him,--hid it until that final, fierce hour of
reckoning that her nature had with her,--nay, was bound to have
with her, before the punishment was lifted, and the frozen spot
melted at length from her heart.
So, meanwhile, she made her decree against Bennington. Not
Vermont, but Wyoming, should be her wedding place. No world's
voices should be whispering, no world's eyes should be looking
on, when she made her vow to him and received his vow. Those
voices should be spoken and that ring put on in this wild Cattle
Land, where first she had seen him ride into the flooded river,
and lift her ashore upon his horse. It was this open sky which
The Virginian |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Essays of Travel by Robert Louis Stevenson: scouring pans by the radiance of two lanterns, and one of these he
sought to borrow. The scullion was backward. 'Was it one of the
crew?' he asked. And when Jones, smitten with my theory, had assured
him that it was a fireman, he reluctantly left his scouring and came
towards us at an easy pace, with one of the lanterns swinging from
his finger. The light, as it reached the spot, showed us an elderly
man, thick-set, and grizzled with years; but the shifting and coarse
shadows concealed from us the expression and even the design of his
face.
So soon as the cook set eyes on him he gave a sort of whistle.
'IT'S ONLY A PASSENGER!' said he; and turning about, made, lantern
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Time Machine by H. G. Wells: for a moment I was free.
`The strange exultation that so often seems to accompany hard
fighting came upon me. I knew that both I and Weena were lost,
but I determined to make the Morlocks pay for their meat. I
stood with my back to a tree, swinging the iron bar before me.
The whole wood was full of the stir and cries of them. A minute
passed. Their voices seemed to rise to a higher pitch of
excitement, and their movements grew faster. Yet none came
within reach. I stood glaring at the blackness. Then suddenly
came hope. What if the Morlocks were afraid? And close on the
heels of that came a strange thing. The darkness seemed to grow
The Time Machine |
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 Coxon Fund by Henry James: me away," my companion dropped, "and I suppose they'd have done so
if I hadn't somehow got an idea that he's fascinating. In fact
Mrs. Saltram herself says he is."
"So you came to see where the fascination resides? Well, you've
seen!"
My young lady raised fine eyebrows. "Do you mean in his bad
faith?"
"In the extraordinary effects of it; his possession, that is, of
some quality or other that condemns us in advance to forgive him
the humiliation, as I may call it, to which he has subjected us."
"The humiliation?"
|
