| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad: strong - eh?"
He stamped one foot, and picked up his other laced boot, heavy,
thick-soled, unblacked, mended many times. He smiled to himself
grimly.
"Tell me, Ossipon, terrible man, has ever one of your victims
killed herself for you - or are your triumphs so far incomplete -
for blood alone puts a seal on greatness? Blood. Death. Look at
history."
"You be damned," said Ossipon, without turning his head.
"Why? Let that be the hope of the weak, whose theology has
invented hell for the strong. Ossipon, my feeling for you is
The Secret Agent |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Philosophy 4 by Owen Wister: gelding went on, expressing, however, by every line of its body, a sense
of outraged justice. The boys related their difficult search, and
learned that any mention of the name of Diggs would have brought them
straight. "Bill Higgs of the Bird-in-Hand was my father, and my
grandf'ther, and his father; and has been me sence I come back from the
war and took the business in '65. I'm not commonly to be met out this
late. About fifteen minutes earlier is my time for gettin' back, unless
I'm plannin' for a jamboree. But to-night I got to settin' and watchin'
that sunset, and listenin' to a darned red-winged blackbird, and I guess
Mrs. Higgs has decided to expect me somewheres about noon to-morrow or
Friday. Say, did Johnnie send you? "When he found that John had in a
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Gobseck by Honore de Balzac: a battlefield after the fight. Broken glasses, serviettes crumpled and
torn to rags lie strewn about among the nauseous-looking remnants of
food on the dishes. There is an uproar that stuns you, jesting toasts,
a fire of witticisms and bad jokes; faces are empurpled, eyes inflamed
and expressionless, unintentional confidences tell you the whole
truth. Bottles are smashed, and songs trolled out in the height of a
diabolical racket; men call each other out, hang on each other's
necks, or fall to fisticuffs; the room is full of a horrid, close
scent made up of a hundred odors, and noise enough for a hundred
voices. No one has any notion of what he is eating or drinking or
saying. Some are depressed, others babble, one will turn monomaniac,
Gobseck |
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 Anthem by Ayn Rand: and we waited. The steps came closer.
And then we saw the fold of a white tunic
among the trees, and a gleam of gold.
We leapt forward, we ran to them, and
we stood looking upon the Golden One.
They saw us, and their hands closed into
fists, and the fists pulled their arms down,
as if they wished their arms to hold them,
while their body swayed. And they could
not speak.
We dared not come too close to them.
Anthem |
