| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The United States Constitution: and House of Representatives may be necessary (except on a question
of Adjournment) shall be presented to the President of the United States;
and before the Same shall take Effect, shall be approved by him,
or being disapproved by him, shall be repassed by two thirds of
the Senate and House of Representatives, according to the Rules
and Limitations prescribed in the Case of a Bill.
Section 8. The Congress shall have Power to lay and collect Taxes, Duties,
Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence
and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises
shall be uniform throughout the United States;
To borrow Money on the credit of the United States;
The United States Constitution |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Scarecrow of Oz by L. Frank Baum: window and tried to count the stars.
Chapter Twenty-One
Dorothy, Betsy and Ozma
I suppose many of my readers have read descriptions of
the beautiful and magnificent Emerald City of Oz, so I
need not describe it here, except to state that never has
any city in any fairyland ever equalled this one in
stately splendor. It lies almost exactly in the center
of the Land of Oz, and in the center of the Emerald City
rises the wall of glistening emeralds that surrounds the
palace of Ozma. The palace is almost a city in itself
The Scarecrow of Oz |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Common Sense by Thomas Paine: Even the distance at which the Almighty hath placed England and America,
is a strong and natural proof, that the authority of the one, over the other,
was never the design of Heaven. The time likewise at which the continent
was discovered, adds weight to the argument, and the manner in which it
was peopled increases the force of it. The reformation was preceded
by the discovery of America, as if the Almighty graciously meant
to open a sanctuary to the Persecuted in future years,
when home should afford neither friendship nor safety.
The authority of Great Britain over this continent,
is a form of government, which sooner or later must have an end:
And a serious mind can draw no true pleasure by looking forward
Common Sense |
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 Walking by Henry David Thoreau: reflecting Greece and Rome. Her wilderness is a green wood, her
wild man a Robin Hood. There is plenty of genial love of Nature,
but not so much of Nature herself. Her chronicles inform us when
her wild animals, but not when the wild man in her, became
extinct.
The science of Humboldt is one thing, poetry is another thing.
The poet today, notwithstanding all the discoveries of science,
and the accumulated learning of mankind, enjoys no advantage over
Homer.
Where is the literature which gives expression to Nature? He
would be a poet who could impress the winds and streams into his
Walking |
