| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Snow Image by Nathaniel Hawthorne: Peony as she herself was,--"after all, she does look strangely
like a snow-image! I do believe she is made of snow!"
A puff of the west-wind blew against the snow-child, and again
she sparkled like a star.
"Snow!" repeated good Mr. Lindsey, drawing the reluctant guest
over his hospitable threshold. "No wonder she looks like snow.
She is half frozen, poor little thing! But a good fire will put
everything to rights!"
Without further talk, and always with the same best intentions,
this highly benevolent and common-sensible individual led the
little white damsel--drooping, drooping, drooping, more and more
The Snow Image |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Garden Party by Katherine Mansfield: And grandma put her hand, with the black thread glove that was worn through
on her ring finger, against his cheek, and she sobbed, "God bless you, my
own brave son!"
This was so awful that Fenella quickly turned her back on them, swallowed
once, twice, and frowned terribly at a little green star on a mast head.
But she had to turn round again; her father was going.
"Good-bye, Fenella. Be a good girl." His cold, wet moustache brushed her
cheek. But Fenella caught hold of the lapels of his coat.
"How long am I going to stay?" she whispered anxiously. He wouldn't look
at her. He shook her off gently, and gently said, "We'll see about that.
Here! Where's your hand?" He pressed something into her palm. "Here's a
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Menexenus by Plato: Parmenides, and the Sophist, and Politicus, that no considerable objection
can be urged against them, though greatly overbalanced by the weight
(chiefly) of internal evidence in their favour. Nor, on the other hand,
can we exclude a bare possibility that some dialogues which are usually
rejected, such as the Greater Hippias and the Cleitophon, may be genuine.
The nature and object of these semi-Platonic writings require more careful
study and more comparison of them with one another, and with forged
writings in general, than they have yet received, before we can finally
decide on their character. We do not consider them all as genuine until
they can be proved to be spurious, as is often maintained and still more
often implied in this and similar discussions; but should say of some of
|
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 Lay Morals by Robert Louis Stevenson: straight at me. How white you are!'
'The gulf,' he said, and closed his eyes again and shuddered.
'Why,' said Nance, 'what a poor climber you must be! That
was where my cousin Dick used to get out of the castle after
Uncle Jonathan had shut the gate. I've been down there
myself with him helping me. I wouldn't try with you,' she
said, and laughed merrily.
The sound of her laughter was sincere and musical, and
perhaps its beauty barbed the offence to Mr. Archer. The
blood came into his face with a quick jet, and then left it
paler than before. 'It is a physical weakness,' he said
|
