| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad: They were going to run an over-sea empire, and make no end of
coin by trade.
"A narrow and deserted street in deep shadow, high houses,
innumerable windows with venetian blinds, a dead silence, grass sprouting
right and left, immense double doors standing ponderously ajar.
I slipped through one of these cracks, went up a swept and ungarnished
staircase, as arid as a desert, and opened the first door I came to.
Two women, one fat and the other slim, sat on straw-bottomed chairs,
knitting black wool. The slim one got up and walked straight at me--
still knitting with downcast eyes--and only just as I began to
think of getting out of her way, as you would for a somnambulist,
 Heart of Darkness |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Arrow of Gold by Joseph Conrad: added, looking at me inquisitively.
"It seems strange."
"There are some dancing girls staying in the house," I said
negligently. "Did you leave Madame alone?"
"There's the gardener and his wife in the house."
"Those people keep at the back. Is Madame alone? That's what I
want to know."
"Monsieur forgets that I have been three hours away; but I assure
Monsieur that here in this town it's perfectly safe for Madame to
be alone."
"And wouldn't it be anywhere else? It's the first I hear of it."
 The Arrow of Gold |