| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Hellenica by Xenophon: they dismounted Polycharmus, the Lacedaemonian cavalry general,
inflicting a hundred wounds on him as he lay on the ground, and cut
down others, and finally put to flight the cavalry on the right wing.
The flight of these troopers infected the infantry in close proximity
to them, who in turn swerved; and it looked as if the whole army was
about to be worsted, when Derdas at the head of his cavalry dashed
straight at the gates of Olynthus, Teleutias supporting him with the
troops of his division. The Olynthian cavalry, seeing how matters were
going, and in dread of finding the gates closed upon them, wheeled
round and retired with alacrity. Thus it was that Derdas had his
chance to cut down man after man as their cavalry ran the gauntlet
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from In Darkest England and The Way Out by General William Booth: of society, with the mark of 'gaol bird' upon me, that I must cover my
face, and stand aside and cry 'unclean.' Such were my feelings.
"The morning of discharge came, and I am once more on the streets.
My scanty means scarcely sufficient for two days' least needs. Could I
brace myself to make another honest endeavour to start afresh?
Try, indeed, I did. I fell back upon my antecedents, and tried to cut
the dark passage out of my life, but straight came the questions to me
at each application for employment, 'What have you been doing lately?'
'Where have you been living?' If I evaded the question it caused doubt;
if I answered, the only answer I could give was 'in gaol,' and that
settled my chances.
In Darkest England and The Way Out |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Cruise of the Jasper B. by Don Marquis: patronized the place. But most of the patronage at all seasons
seemed to consist of automobile parties from the city; people
apparently drawn from all classes, or eluding definite
classification entirely. In the bleakest season there was always
a little stir of dubious activity about Morris's. In the summer
it impressed you with its look of cheapness. In the winter,
squatted by the cold water amidst its huddle of unpainted
outhouses, at the end of a stretch of desolate beach, the fancy
gave Morris's a touch of the sinister.
Cleggett was anxious to get the Jasper B. into seaworthy
condition as soon as possible. It occurred to him that the
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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 Golden Threshold by Sarojini Naidu: final enduring beauty that I desire." And, in another letter,
she writes: "I am not a poet really. I have the vision and the
desire, but not the voice. If I could write just one poem full
of beauty and the spirit of greatness, I should be exultantly
silent for ever; but I sing just as the birds do, and my songs
are as ephemeral." It is for this bird-like quality of song, it
seems to me, that they are to be valued. They hint, in a sort of
delicately evasive way, at a rare temperament, the temperament of
a woman of the East, finding expression through a Western
language and under partly Western influences. They do not
express the whole of that temperament; but they express, I think,
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