| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Muse of the Department by Honore de Balzac: apart, not asking her to give him up. In real life these violent
situations are not closed as they are in books, by death or cleverly
contrived catastrophes; they end far less poetically--in disgust, in
the blighting of every flower of the soul, in the commonplace of
habit, and very often too in another passion, which robs a wife of the
interest which is traditionally ascribed to women. So, when common
sense, the law of social proprieties, family interest--all the mixed
elements which, since the Restoration, have been dignified by the mane
of Public Morals, out of sheer aversion to the name of the Catholic
religion--where this is seconded by a sense of insults a little too
offensive; when the fatigue of constant self-sacrifice has almost
The Muse of the Department |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Man against the Sky by Edwin Arlington Robinson: And this went on, with intervals
Of labored harmony between
Resounding discords, till at last
Llewellyn turned -- as will be seen.
Priscilla, warmer than her name,
And shriller than the sound of saws,
Pursued Llewellyn once too far,
Not knowing quite the man he was.
The more she said, the fiercer clung
The stinging garment of his wrath;
And this was all before the day
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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 In a German Pension by Katherine Mansfield: "Oh, boo! What a condition! And I don't want to kiss you--I don't like
kissing. Please go!"
"Yes--you do!--yes, you do." He caught hold of her arms above the elbows.
She struggled, and was quite amazed to realise how angry she felt.
"Let me go--immediately!" she cried--and he slipped one arm round her body,
and drew her towards him--like a bar of iron across her back--that arm.
"Leave me alone! I tell you. Don't be mean! I didn't want this to happen
when you came into my room. How dare you?"
"Well, kiss me and I'll go!"
It was too idiotic--dodging that stupid, smiling face.
"I won't kiss you!--you brute!--I won't!" Somehow she slipped out of his
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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 Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs: remarkable!" said the professor; "but I can add nothing further
to what I have already remarked in elucidation of this truly
momentous occurrence," and the professor turned slowly in
the direction of the jungle.
"But, papa," cried the girl, "you haven't said anything
about it yet."
"Tut, tut, child; tut, tut," responded Professor Porter, in a
kindly and indulgent tone, "do not trouble your pretty head
with such weighty and abstruse problems," and again he wandered
slowly off in still another direction, his eyes bent upon
the ground at his feet, his hands clasped behind him beneath
Tarzan of the Apes |
