| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Turn of the Screw by Henry James: to sit straight up, as completely roused as if a hand had shook me.
I had left a light burning, but it was now out, and I felt an instant
certainty that Flora had extinguished it. This brought me to my feet
and straight, in the darkness, to her bed, which I found she had left.
A glance at the window enlightened me further, and the striking of a match
completed the picture.
The child had again got up--this time blowing out the taper, and had again,
for some purpose of observation or response, squeezed in behind
the blind and was peering out into the night. That she now saw--
as she had not, I had satisfied myself, the previous time--was proved
to me by the fact that she was disturbed neither by my reillumination
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Dynamiter by Robert Louis Stevenson and Fanny Van De Grift Stevenson: raise it from the ground. Suddenly the weight, which was
thus resisting his whole strength, began to lighten in his
hands; the ladder, like a thing of life, reared its bulk from
off the sod; and Challoner, leaping back with a cry of almost
superstitious terror, beheld the whole structure mount, foot
by foot, against the face of the retaining wall. At the same
time, two heads were dimly visible above the parapet, and he
was hailed by a guarded whistle. Something in its modulation
recalled, like an echo, the whistle of the man with the chin-
beard,
Had he chanced upon a means of escape prepared beforehand by
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Hermione's Little Group of Serious Thinkers by Don Marquis: And with his thigh hone I heat the dinosaur to
death, for I am Virile!
Snore! Snore! Snore!
Snore, O struggling and troubled and squirming
and suffering and choking and purple-faced
sleeper, snore!
Snore me the sound of the brutal struggle when the
big bull planets bellowed and fought with one
another. in the bloody dawn of time for the
love of little yellow-haired moons,
Snore!
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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 Ion by Plato: consider this matter; is not the art of painting a whole?
ION: Yes.
SOCRATES: And there are and have been many painters good and bad?
ION: Yes.
SOCRATES: And did you ever know any one who was skilful in pointing out
the excellences and defects of Polygnotus the son of Aglaophon, but
incapable of criticizing other painters; and when the work of any other
painter was produced, went to sleep and was at a loss, and had no ideas;
but when he had to give his opinion about Polygnotus, or whoever the
painter might be, and about him only, woke up and was attentive and had
plenty to say?
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