| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Voyage of the Beagle by Charles Darwin: lying on their surface, which front the long line of the
Patagonian coast, sweep up on each side of the valley of Sant
Cruz. No possible action of any flood could thus hav
modelled the land, either within the valley or along the ope
coast; and by the formation of such step-like plains or terraces
the valley itself had been hollowed out. Although w
know that there are tides, which run within the Narrow
of the Strait of Magellan at the rate of eight knots an hour
yet we must confess that it makes the head almost giddy t
reflect on the number of years, century after century, whic
the tides, unaided by a heavy surf, must have required t
The Voyage of the Beagle |
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 Middlemarch by George Eliot: an idea had thrilled through the recesses within him which had
a miraculous effect in raising the power of passionate love lying
buried there in no sealed sepulchre, but under the lightest,
easily pierced mould. His words were quite abrupt and awkward;
but the tone made them sound like an ardent, appealing avowal.
"What is the matter? you are distressed. Tell me, pray."
Rosamond had never been spoken to in such tones before. I am not sure
that she knew what the words were: but she looked at Lydgate and the
tears fell over her cheeks. There could have been no more complete
answer than that silence, and Lydgate, forgetting everything else,
completely mastered by the outrush of tenderness at the sudden
Middlemarch |
