| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe: letter to him, so that, he said, he would be sure to receive it.
I came to London the next day after we parted, but did not go
directly to my old lodgings; but for another nameless reason
took a private lodging in St. John's Street, or, as it is vulgarly
called, St. Jones's, near Clerkenwell; and here, being perfectly
alone, I had leisure to sit down and reflect seriously upon the
last seven months' ramble I had made, for I had been abroad
no less. The pleasant hours I had with my last husband I looked
back on with an infinite deal of pleasure; but that pleasure was
very much lessened when I found some time after that I was
really with child.
Moll Flanders |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Misalliance by George Bernard Shaw: this house everybody does what she says or out they go.
GUNNER. Do you suppose I want to stay? Do you think I would breathe
this polluted atmosphere a moment longer than I could help?
BENTLEY. _[running forward between Lina and Gunner]_ But what did
you mean by what you said about Miss Tarleton and Mr Percival, you
beastly rotter, you?
GUNNER. _[to Tarleton]_ Oh! is Hypatia your daughter? And Joey is
Mister Percival, is he? One of your set, I suppose. One of the smart
set! One of the bridge-playing, eighty-horse-power, week-ender set!
One of the johnnies I slave for! Well, Joey has more decency than
your daughter, anyhow. The women are the worst. I never believed it
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Marriage Contract by Honore de Balzac: suppose that we adopt the pettiness of bourgeois customs? Is Count
Paul held in bonds like a man who might seek to get away? Think you we
ought to watch him with a squad of gendarmes lest some provincial
conspiracy should get him away from us?"
"Be assured, my dearest friend, that it gives me the greatest pleasure
to--"
Here her words were interrupted by a footman who entered the room to
announce Paul. Like many lovers, Paul thought it charming to ride
twelve miles to spend an hour with Natalie. He had left his friends
while hunting, and came in booted and spurred, and whip in hand.
"Dear Paul," said Natalie, "you don't know what an answer you are
|
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 My Antonia by Willa Cather: and along the river to the next town, where my grandmother lived.
My feet remember all the little paths through the woods,
and where the big roots stick out to trip you. I ain't never
forgot my own country.'
There was a crackling in the branches above us, and Lena Lingard
peered down over the edge of the bank.
`You lazy things!' she cried. `All this elder, and you
two lying there! Didn't you hear us calling you?'
Almost as flushed as she had been in my dream, she leaned over
the edge of the bank and began to demolish our flowery pagoda.
I had never seen her so energetic; she was panting with zeal,
My Antonia |
