| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson by Robert Louis Stevenson: and-oiled, ultra-cultured, Oxford-don sort of an affectation that
infuriates my honest soul. 'You see' - they say - 'how unbombastic
WE are; we come right up to eloquence, and, when it's hanging on
the pen, dammy, we scorn it!' It is literary Deronda-ism. If you
don't want the woman, the image, or the phrase, mortify your vanity
and avoid the appearance of wanting them.
Letter: TO W. H. LOW
LA SOLITUDE, HYERES, OCTOBER [1883].
MY DEAR LOW, - . . . Some day or other, in Cassell's MAGAZINE OF
ART, you will see a paper which will interest you, and where your
name appears. It is called 'Fontainebleau: Village Communities of
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare: For I haue need of many Orysons,
To moue the heauens to smile vpon my state,
Which well thou know'st, is crosse and full of sin.
Enter Mother.
Mo. What are you busie ho? need you my help?
Iul. No Madam, we haue cul'd such necessaries
As are behoouefull for our state to morrow:
So please you, let me now be left alone;
And let the Nurse this night sit vp with you,
For I am sure, you haue your hands full all,
In this so sudden businesse
Romeo and Juliet |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald: a cold shower?"
Daisy began to sing with the music in a husky, rhythmic whisper,
bringing out a meaning in each word that it had never had
before and would never have again. When the melody rose, her voice
broke up sweetly, following it, in a way contralto voices have, and
each change tipped out a little of her warm human magic upon the air.
"Lots of people come who haven't been invited," she said suddenly.
"That girl hadn't been invited. They simply force their way in and he's
too polite to object."
"I'd like to know who he is and what he does," insisted Tom. "And I think
I'll make a point of finding out."
The Great Gatsby |
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 Ferragus by Honore de Balzac: prayers were answered.
"Well," said the vidame, "now you had better show yourself at the ball
you were speaking of. I oppose no further objections."
CHAPTER III
THE WIFE ACCUSED
Monsieur de Maulincour was all the more anxious to go to this ball
because he knew that Madame Jules would be present. The fete was given
by the Prefect of the Seine, in whose salons the two social worlds of
Paris met as on neutral ground. Auguste passed through the rooms
without finding the woman who now exercised so mighty an influence on
his fate. He entered an empty boudoir where card-tables were placed
Ferragus |
