| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from New Poems by Robert Louis Stevenson: Alone on that unsounded deep,
Poor waif, it may be I shall perish,
Far from the course I thought to keep,
Far from the friends I hoped to cherish.
It may be that I shall sink, and yet
Hear, thro' all taunt and scornful laughter,
Through all defeat and all regret,
The stronger swimmers coming after.
SWALLOWS TRAVEL TO AND FRO
SWALLOWS travel to and fro,
And the great winds come and go,
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Rescue by Joseph Conrad: to his own apparitional existence of a visiting ghost. They were
but passages in the game of men who were still playing at life.
He knew too well how much that game was worth to be concerned
about its course. He had given up the habit of thinking for so
long that the sudden resumption of it irked him exceedingly,
especially as he had to think on toward a conclusion. In that
world of eternal oblivion, of which he had tasted before Lingard
made him step back into the life of men, all things were settled
once for all. He was irritated by his own perplexity which was
like a reminder of that mortality made up of questions and
passions from which he had fancied he had freed himself forever.
The Rescue |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Silas Marner by George Eliot: uncalculating anger. "I want to tell you, I must hand over that
rent of Fowler's to the Squire, or else tell him I gave it you; for
he's threatening to distrain for it, and it'll all be out soon,
whether I tell him or not. He said, just now, before he went out,
he should send word to Cox to distrain, if Fowler didn't come and
pay up his arrears this week. The Squire's short o' cash, and in no
humour to stand any nonsense; and you know what he threatened, if
ever he found you making away with his money again. So, see and get
the money, and pretty quickly, will you?"
"Oh!" said Dunsey, sneeringly, coming nearer to his brother and
looking in his face. "Suppose, now, you get the money yourself,
Silas Marner |
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 Love and Friendship by Jane Austen: and leave the room abruptly?" "Never (replied she) that I
remember--he has always left the room indeed when his visit has
been ended, but has never gone away particularly abruptly or
without making a bow." Indeed my Love (said I) you must be
mistaken--for it is absolutely impossible that he should ever
have left you but with Confusion, Despair, and Precipitation.
Consider but for a moment Janetta, and you must be convinced how
absurd it is to suppose that he could ever make a Bow, or behave
like any other Person." Having settled this Point to our
satisfaction, the next we took into consideration was, to
determine in what manner we should inform M'Kenrie of the
Love and Friendship |
