| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Letters of Two Brides by Honore de Balzac: any longer. If the baby is a boy, it will be called Felipe, in honor
of the exile. An unkind chance has decreed that I shall, a second
time, serve as godmother.
Good-bye, dear, I shall go to Chantepleurs early this year, for our
Italian tour was shockingly expensive. I shall leave about the end of
March, and retire to economize in Nivenais. Besides, I am tired of
Paris. Felipe sighs, as I do, after the beautiful quiet of the park,
our cool meadows, and our Loire, with its sparkling sands, peerless
among rivers. Chantepleurs will seem delightful to me after the pomps
and vanities of Italy; for, after all, splendor becomes wearisome, and
a lover's glance has more beauty than a /capo d'opera/ or a /bel
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom by William and Ellen Craft: sell, so you needn't trouble yourself no more.
If the critter behaves herself, I'll do as well by her
as any man."
Slator spoke up boldly, but his manner and
sheepish look clearly indicated that
"His heart within him was at strife
With such accursed gains;
For he knew whose passions gave her life,
Whose blood ran in her veins."
"The monster led her from the door,
He led her by the hand,
Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Expression of Emotion in Man and Animals by Charles Darwin: Movements of the features during laughter--Nature of the
sound produced--The secretion of tears during loud laughter--
Gradation from loud laughter to gentle smiling--High spirits--
The expression of love--Tender feelings--Devotion.
JOY, when intense, leads to various purposeless movements--
to dancing about, clapping the hands, stamping, &c., and to loud laughter.
Laughter seems primarily to be the expression of mere joy or happiness.
We clearly see this in children at play, who are almost incessantly laughing.
With young persons past childhood, when they are in high spirits, there is
always much meaningless laughter. The laughter of the gods is described by
Homer as "the exuberance of their celestial joy after their daily banquet."
Expression of Emotion in Man and Animals |
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 Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne: full of doubt and questioning as to what his purposes might be.
She looked also at her slumbering child.
"I have thought of death," said she -- " have wished for it --
would even have prayed for it, were it fit that such as I should
pray for anything. Yet, if death be in this cup, I bid thee
think again, ere thou beholdest me quaff it. See! it is even
now at my lips. "
"Drink, then," replied he, still with the same cold composure.
"Dost thou know me so little, Hester Prynne? Are my purposes
The Scarlet Letter |
