| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Kwaidan by Lafcadio Hearn: that he had brought about his own misfortune, by entering into a
clandestine relation which the code of the military class condemned. There
was now but one hope for him,-- a desperate hope: that Aoyagi might be able
and willing to escape and to flee with him. After long reflection, he
resolved to try to send her a letter. The attempt would be dangerous, of
course: any writing sent to her might find its way to the hands of the
daimyo; and to send a love-letter to anyinmate of the place was an
unpardonable offense. But he resolved to dare the risk; and, in the form of
a Chinese poem, he composed a letter which he endeavored to have conveyed
to her. The poem was written with only twenty-eight characters. But with
those twenty-eight characters he was about to express all the depth of his
Kwaidan |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy: well-known delight which required no applause.
"Now, Master Poorgrass, your song!" said Coggan.
"I be all but in liquor, and the gift is wanting in
me." said Joseph, diminishing himself.
"Nonsense; wou'st never be so ungrateful, Joseph --
never!" said Coggan, expressing hurt feelings by an
inflection of voice. "And mistress is looking hard at
ye, as much as to say, "Sing at once, Joseph Poor-
grass."
"Faith, so she is; well, I must suffer it! ... Just
eye my features, and see if the tell-tale blood overheats
Far From the Madding Crowd |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from U. S. Project Trinity Report by Carl Maag and Steve Rohrer: measurements of ionizing radiation
o The TR-4 Group, responsible for meteorology
o The TR-5 Group, responsible for spectrographic and photographic
measurements
o The TR-6 Group, responsible for the airblast-airborne condenser
gauges
o The TR-7 (Medical) Group, responsible for the radiological safety
and general health of the Project TRINITY participants.
Each of these groups was divided into several units. Individuals were
also assigned special tasks outside their groups, such as
communications and tracking the TRINITY cloud with a searchlight (3).
|
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 To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf: sea anemones, who were stuck like lumps of jelly to the side of the
rock. Brooding, she changed the pool into the sea, and made the minnows
into sharks and whales, and cast vast clouds over this tiny world by
holding her hand against the sun, and so brought darkness and
desolation, like God himself, to millions of ignorant and innocent
creatures, and then took her hand away suddenly and let the sun stream
down. Out on the pale criss-crossed sand, high-stepping, fringed,
gauntleted, stalked some fantastic leviathan (she was still enlarging
the pool), and slipped into the vast fissures of the mountain side.
And then, letting her eyes slide imperceptibly above the pool and rest
on that wavering line of sea and sky, on the tree trunks which the
To the Lighthouse |
