| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf: Chinese eyes, aslant in her white, puckered little face, but it would take
a clever man to see it, "and now stand up, and let me measure your leg,"
for they might go to the Lighthouse after all, and she must see if the
stocking did not need to be an inch or two longer in the leg.
Smiling, for it was an admirable idea, that had flashed upon her this very
second--William and Lily should marry--she took the heather-mixture
stocking, with its criss-cross of steel needles at the mouth of it, and
measured it against James's leg.
"My dear, stand still," she said, for in his jealousy, not liking to serve
as measuring block for the Lighthouse keeper's little boy, James fidgeted
purposely; and if he did that, how could she see, was it too long, was it
To the Lighthouse |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen: to understand by his words as well as his actions,
she had from the first been so fortunate as to excite
in the general; and by a recollection of some most generous
and disinterested sentiments on the subject of money,
which she had more than once heard him utter, and which
tempted her to think his disposition in such matters
misunderstood by his children.
They were so fully convinced, however, that their
brother would not have the courage to apply in person
for his father's consent, and so repeatedly assured her
that he had never in his life been less likely to come
Northanger Abbey |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Another Study of Woman by Honore de Balzac: passions and our sentiments, and whispering to us in every case the
judgment of a sort of moral ready-reckoner."
"That explains why a statesman is so rare a thing in France," said old
Lord Dudley.
"From a sentimental point of view, this is horrible," the Minister
went on. "Hence, when such a phenomenon is seen in a young man--
Richelieu, who, when warned overnight by a letter of Concini's peril,
slept till midday, when his benefactor was killed at ten o'clock--or
say Pitt, or Napoleon, he was a monster. I became such a monster at a
very early age, thanks to a woman."
"I fancied," said Madame de Montcornet with a smile, "that more
|
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 My Bondage and My Freedom by Frederick Douglass: upon to speak here to-day? What have I, or those I represent, to
do with your national independence? Are the great principles of
political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that
Declaration of Independence, extended to us? and am I, therefore,
called upon to bring our humble offering to the national altar,
and to confess the benefits, and express devout gratitude for the
blessings, resulting from your independence to us?
Would to God, both for your sakes and ours, that an affirmative
answer could be truthfully returned to these questions! Then
would my task be light, and my burden easy and delightful. For
who is there so cold that a nation's sympathy could not warm him?
My Bondage and My Freedom |
