| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Lemorne Versus Huell by Elizabeth Drew Stoddard: forward, and after a while came upon some barren fields, cropping
with coarse rocks, along which ran a narrow road. I turned into it,
and soon saw beyond the rough coast the blue ring of the ocean--
vast, silent, and splendid in the sunshine. I found a seat on the
ruins of an old stone-wall, among some tangled bushes and briers.
There being no Aunt Eliza to pull through the surf, and no animated
bathers near, I discovered the beauty of the sea, and that I loved
it.
Presently I heard the steps of a horse, and, to my astonishment,
Mr. Uxbridge rode past. I was glad he did not know me. I watched
him as he rode slowly down the road, deep in thought. He let drop
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy: in which sexual love was regarded as at its best a frailty,
and at its worst damnation. What Sue had said in warmth
was really the cold truth. When to defend his affection
tooth and nail, to persist with headlong force in impassioned
attentions to her, was all he thought of, he was condemned
IPSO FACTO as a professor of the accepted school of morals.
He was as unfit, obviously, by nature, as he had been
by social position, to fill the part of a propounder of
accredited dogma.
Strange that his first aspiration--towards academical proficiency--
had been checked by a woman, and that his second aspiration--
Jude the Obscure |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Lady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence: 'I assure you, you were very elegant altogether out there in the wood.
I was utterly ashamed of you. Why, my father is ten times the human
being you are: you GENTLEMAN!'
He reached and rang the bell for Mrs Bolton. But he was yellow at the
gills.
She went up to her room, furious, saying to herself: 'Him and buying
people! Well, he doesn't buy me, and therefore there's no need for me
to stay with him. Dead fish of a gentleman, with his celluloid soul!
And how they take one in, with their manners and their mock wistfulness
and gentleness. They've got about as much feeling as celluloid has.'
She made her plans for the night, and determined to get Clifford off
Lady Chatterley's Lover |
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 When the World Shook by H. Rider Haggard: her eyes.
"Why, Yva? During the little while that we have been together I
have seen much which makes me doubt. Even Bickley the sceptic
doubts also."
"I will tell you, though I am not sure that you will believe
me." She glanced about her as though she were frightened lest
someone should overhear her words or read her thoughts. Then she
stretched out her hands and drawing my head towards her, put her
lips to my ear and whispered:
"Because once you saw me die, as women often die--giving life
for life."
When the World Shook |
