| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Eugenie Grandet by Honore de Balzac: room.
"Listen to me," he said, with his usual composure. "I hope that you
will not continue this extravagance, Madame Grandet. I don't give you
MY money to stuff that young fellow with sugar."
"My mother had nothing to do with it," said Eugenie; "it was I who--"
"Is it because you are of age," said Grandet, interrupting his
daughter, "that you choose to contradict me? Remember, Eugenie--"
"Father, the son of your brother ought to receive from us--"
"Ta, ta, ta, ta!" exclaimed the cooper on four chromatic tones; "the
son of my brother this, my nephew that! Charles is nothing at all to
us; he hasn't a farthing, his father has failed; and when this dandy
Eugenie Grandet |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Footnote to History by Robert Louis Stevenson: "the independence of the Samoan government, and the free right of
the natives to elect their chief or king and choose their form of
government." True, the text continues that, "in view of the
difficulties that surround an election in the present disordered
condition of the government," Malietoa Laupepa shall be recognised
as king, "unless the three Powers shall by common accord otherwise
declare." But perhaps few natives have followed it so far, and
even those who have, were possibly all cast abroad again by the
next clause: "and his successor shall be duly elected according to
the laws and customs of Samoa." The right to elect, freely given
in one sentence, was suspended in the next, and a line or so
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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 Charmides by Plato: certain freshness and a suitable 'entourage.' It is strange to observe
that the most effective use of Scripture phraseology arises out of the
application of it in a sense not intended by the author. (c) Another
caution: metaphors differ in different languages, and the translator will
often be compelled to substitute one for another, or to paraphrase them,
not giving word for word, but diffusing over several words the more
concentrated thought of the original. The Greek of Plato often goes beyond
the English in its imagery: compare Laws, (Greek); Rep.; etc. Or again the
modern word, which in substance is the nearest equivalent to the Greek, may
be found to include associations alien to Greek life: e.g. (Greek),
'jurymen,' (Greek), 'the bourgeoisie.' (d) The translator has also to
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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 Tess of the d'Urbervilles, A Pure Woman by Thomas Hardy: nothing occurred to cause her bodily fear till a
particular November afternoon.
She had preferred the country west of the River Brit to
the upland farm for which she was now bound, because,
for one thing, it was nearer to the home of her
husband's father; and to hover about that region
unrecognized, with the notion that she might decide to
call at the Vicarage some day, gave her pleasure. But
having once decided to try the higher and drier levels,
she pressed back eastward, marching afoot towards the
village of Chalk-Newton, where she meant to pass the
Tess of the d'Urbervilles, A Pure Woman |
