| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Tono Bungay by H. G. Wells: I substituted a motor-bicycle for the London train and took my
chances in the southward traffic, and I even tried what thrills
were to be got upon a horse. But they put me on made horses, and
I conceived a perhaps unworthy contempt for the certitudes of
equestrian exercise in comparison with the adventures of
mechanism. Also I walked along the high wall at the back of Lady
Grove garden, and at last brought myself to stride the gap where
the gate comes. If I didn't altogether get rid of a certain
giddy instinct by such exercises, at least I trained my will
until it didn't matter. And soon I no longer dreaded flight, but
was eager to go higher into the air, and I came to esteem soaring
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Simple Soul by Gustave Flaubert: of a shattered mast, with his whole body bend backward and covered
with sea-foam; or,--these were recollections of the engraved geography
--he was being devoured by savages, or captured in a forest by apes,
or dying on some lonely coast. She never mentioned her anxieties,
however.
Madame Aubain worried about her daughter.
The sisters thought that Virginia was affectionate but delicate. The
slightest emotion enervated her. She had to give up her piano lessons.
Her mother insisted upon regular letters from the convent. One
morning, when the postman failed to come, she grew impatient and began
to pace to and fro, from her chair to the window. It was really
A Simple Soul |
