| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from De Profundis by Oscar Wilde: acknowledged. It is usually discerned, if discerned at all, by the
historian, or the critic, long after both the man and his age have
passed away. With me it was different. I felt it myself, and made
others feel it. Byron was a symbolic figure, but his relations
were to the passion of his age and its weariness of passion. Mine
were to something more noble, more permanent, of more vital issue,
of larger scope.
The gods had given me almost everything. But I let myself be lured
into long spells of senseless and sensual ease. I amused myself
with being a FLANEUR, a dandy, a man of fashion. I surrounded
myself with the smaller natures and the meaner minds. I became the
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Options by O. Henry: tales is no more than a matter of ears and fingers. There are only
two fates I dread--deafness and writer's cramp. The hand is yet
steady; let the ear bear the blame if these printed words be not in
the order they were delivered to me by Hunky Magee, true camp-follower
of fortune.
Biography shall claim you but an instant--I first knew Hunky when he
was head-waiter at Chubb's little beefsteak restaurant and cafe on
Third Avenue. There was only one waiter besides.
Then, successively, I caromed against him in the little streets of the
Big City after his trip to Alaska, his voyage as cook with a treasure-
seeking expedition to the Caribbean, and his failure as a pearl-fisher
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