| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Golden Threshold by Sarojini Naidu: Lotus-maiden, may you be
Fragrant of all ecstasy.
Ranadheera, aetat 2
Little lord of battle, hail
In your newly-tempered mail!
Learn to conquer, learn to fight
In the foremost flanks of right,
Like Valmiki's heroes bold,
Rubies girt in epic gold.
Lord of battle, may you be,
Lord of love and chivalry.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin: by Mr. John Bigelow, and is here reproduced in recognition of its
value as a picture of one of the most notable personalities of Colonial
times, and of its acknowledged rank as one of the great autobiographies
of the world.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
HIS AUTOBIOGRAPHY
1706-1757
TWYFORD, at the Bishop of St. Asaph's,<0> 1771.
<0> The country-seat of Bishop Shipley, the good bishop,
as Dr. Franklin used to style him.--B.
DEAR SON: I have ever had pleasure in obtaining any little
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Shakespeare's Sonnets by William Shakespeare: To win me soon to hell, my female evil,
Tempteth my better angel from my side,
And would corrupt my saint to be a devil,
Wooing his purity with her foul pride.
And whether that my angel be turn'd fiend,
Suspect I may, yet not directly tell;
But being both from me, both to each friend,
I guess one angel in another's hell:
Yet this shall I ne'er know, but live in doubt,
Till my bad angel fire my good one out.
CXLV
|
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 Unseen World and Other Essays by John Fiske: pass through certain definable epochs of development, analogous
to the periods of infancy, childhood, youth, manhood, and old age
in individuals. But while announced with due formality, the
carrying out of the argument was left for the most part to the
headings and running-titles of the several chapters, while in the
text the author peacefully meandered along down the stream of
time, giving us a succession of pleasant though somewhat
threadbare anecdotes, as well as a superabundance of detached and
fragmentary opinions on divers historical events, having
apparently quite forgotten that he had started with a thesis to
prove. In the arrangement of his "running heads," some points
The Unseen World and Other Essays |
