| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Mirror of the Sea by Joseph Conrad: the men, the ship's hands, whom it is his duty to keep employed,
fair weather or foul, for the ship's welfare. It is the chief
mate, the only figure of the ship's afterguard, who comes bustling
forward at the cry of "All hands on deck!" He is the satrap of
that province in the autocratic realm of the ship, and more
personally responsible for anything that may happen there.
There, too, on the approach to the land, assisted by the boatswain
and the carpenter, he "gets the anchors over" with the men of his
own watch, whom he knows better than the others. There he sees the
cable ranged, the windlass disconnected, the compressors opened;
and there, after giving his own last order, "Stand clear of the
The Mirror of the Sea |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne: which he had passed on the downs.
The engineer now wound it up, and ascertaining by the height of the sun
that it must be about nine o'clock in the morning, he put his watch at that
hour.
"No, my dear Spilett, wait. You have kept the Richmond time, have you
not?"
"Yes, Cyrus."
"Consequently, your watch is set by the meridian of that town, which is
almost that of Washington?"
"Undoubtedly."
"Very well, keep it thus. Content yourself with winding it up very,
The Mysterious Island |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Christ in Flanders by Honore de Balzac: the wrinkles on an old man's brow. The whole scene made a background
of ashen grays and half-tints, in strong contrast to the bale-fires of
the sunset. If written language might borrow of spoken language some
of the bold figures of speech invented by the people, it might be said
with the soldier that "the weather has been routed," or, as the
peasant would say, "the sky glowered like an executioner." Suddenly a
wind arose from the quarter of the sunset, and the skipper, who never
took his eyes off the sea, saw the swell on the horizon line, and
cried:
"Stop rowing!"
The sailors stopped immediately, and let their oars lie on the water.
|
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 Master and Man by Leo Tolstoy: are sins. But then, did I take them on of myself? That's
evidently how God made me. Well, and the sins? Where am I to
escape to?'
So at first he thought of what might happen to him that night,
and then did not return to such thoughts but gave himself up to
whatever recollections came into his head of themselves. Now
he thought of Martha's arrival, of the drunkenness among the
workers and his own renunciation of drink, then of their
present journey and of Taras's house and the talk about the
breaking-up of the family, then of his own lad, and of Mukhorty
now sheltered under the drugget, and then of his master who
Master and Man |
