| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from 'Twixt Land & Sea by Joseph Conrad: as if to tear his hair in handfuls, but, calming down, said:
'Good-bye, then, gentlemen,' and went out of the room so crushed
that he seemed hardly able to put one foot before the other. That
very night he committed suicide by cutting his throat in the house
of a half-caste with whom he had been lodging since he came ashore
from the wreck."
That throat, I thought with a shudder, which could produce the
tender, persuasive, manly, but fascinating voice which had aroused
Jasper's ready compassion and had secured Freya's sympathy! Who
could ever have supposed such an end in store for the impossible,
gentle Schultz, with his idiosyncrasy of naive pilfering, so
'Twixt Land & Sea |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Phantasmagoria and Other Poems by Lewis Carroll: After so much reciting :
So, if you don't object, my dear,
We'll try a glass of bitter beer -
I think it looks inviting."
CANTO III - Scarmoges
"AND did you really walk," said I,
"On such a wretched night?
I always fancied Ghosts could fly -
If not exactly in the sky,
Yet at a fairish height."
"It's very well," said he, "for Kings
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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 Paradise Lost by John Milton: Their distance argues, and their swift return
Diurnal,) merely to officiate light
Round this opacous Earth, this punctual spot,
One day and night; in all her vast survey
Useless besides; reasoning I oft admire,
How Nature wise and frugal could commit
Such disproportions, with superfluous hand
So many nobler bodies to create,
Greater so manifold, to this one use,
For aught appears, and on their orbs impose
Such restless revolution day by day
Paradise Lost |
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 The Outlaw of Torn by Edgar Rice Burroughs: to hide away in old Til's garret. So it be well for you,
my Lord, to pay old Til well and add a few guilders
for the peace of her tongue if you would that your
prisoner find peace in old Til's house."
"Fetch me the bundle, hag," replied De Vac, "and
you shall have gold against a final settlement; more
even than we bargained for if all goes well and thou
holdest thy vile tongue."
But the old woman's threats had already caused De
Vac a feeling of uneasiness, which would have been
reflected to an exaggerated degree in the old woman
The Outlaw of Torn |
