| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Divine Comedy (translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow) by Dante Alighieri: tools, e.g., Search, the Discussion Group, well enough to look beyond the
technology and delve into the content. For more information and access to
the project, please visit its web site at:
http://www.ilt.columbia.edu/projects/dante/
For this Project Gutenberg edition the e-text was rechecked. The editor
greatly thanks Dian McCarthy for her assistance in proofreading the
Paradiso. Also deserving praise are Herbert Fann for programming the text
editor "Desktop Tools/Edit" and the late August Dvorak for designing his
keyboard layout. Please refer to Project Gutenberg's e-text listings for
other editions or translations of 'The Divine Comedy.' Please refer to
the end of this file for supplemental materials.
The Divine Comedy (translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow) |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Life in the Iron-Mills by Rebecca Davis: governed, that goes on unceasingly from year to year. The hands
of each mill are divided into watches that relieve each other as
regularly as the sentinels of an army. By night and day the
work goes on, the unsleeping engines groan and shriek, the fiery
pools of metal boil and surge. Only for a day in the week, in
half-courtesy to public censure, the fires are partially veiled;
but as soon as the clock strikes midnight, the great furnaces
break forth with renewed fury, the clamor begins with fresh,
breathless vigor, the engines sob and shriek like "gods in
pain."
As Deborah hurried down through the heavy rain, the noise of
Life in the Iron-Mills |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Yates Pride by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman: grove of evergreen trees as white and perfect as in its youth.
The windows showed rich slants of draperies behind their green
glister of old glass.
A gardener, with a boy assistant, was at work in the grounds when
Eudora entered. He touched his cap. He was an old man who had
lived with the Lancasters ever since Eudora could remember. He
advanced toward her now. "Sha'n't Tommy push--the baby-carriage
up to the house for you, Miss Eudora?" he said, in his cracked
old voice.
Eudora flushed slightly, and, as if in response, the old man
flushed, also. "No, I thank you, Wilson," she said, and moved on.
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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 Domestic Peace by Honore de Balzac: think her charming? Then imagine, dear Beauty, what she must have been
when happiness and love shed their glory on that face now blighted."
The Countess looked away in silence, and seemed lost in sad
reflections.
The Duchess led her to the door into the card-room; then, after
looking round the room as if in search of some one--"And there is
Soulanges!" she said in deep tones.
The Countess shuddered as she saw, in the least brilliantly lighted
corner, the pale, set face of Soulanges stretched in an easy-chair.
The indifference of his attitude and the rigidity of his brow betrayed
his suffering. The players passed him to and fro, without paying any
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