| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Outlaw of Torn by Edgar Rice Burroughs: narrow to mere slits, and her woman's intuition read the
death warrant of the King's officer ere the sword of
the outlaw buried itself in his heart.
The other members of the two bodies of royalist
soldiers had sat spellbound as they watched the battle,
but now, as their leader's corpse rolled from the saddle
they spurred furiously in upon De Conde and his little
party.
The Baron's men put up a noble fight, but the odds
were heavy and even with the mighty arm of Norman
of Torn upon their side the outcome was apparent from
The Outlaw of Torn |
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 Art of Writing by Robert Louis Stevenson: rhapsody; for there it not only colours but itself chooses
the facts; not only modifies but shapes the work. And hence,
over the far larger proportion of the field of literature,
the health or disease of the writer's mind or momentary
humour forms not only the leading feature of his work, but
is, at bottom, the only thing he can communicate to others.
In all works of art, widely speaking, it is first of all the
author's attitude that is narrated, though in the attitude
there be implied a whole experience and a theory of life. An
author who has begged the question and reposes in some narrow
faith cannot, if he would, express the whole or even many of
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