| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from King James Bible: shame that hated us.
PSA 44:8 In God we boast all the day long, and praise thy name for
ever. Selah.
PSA 44:9 But thou hast cast off, and put us to shame; and goest not
forth with our armies.
PSA 44:10 Thou makest us to turn back from the enemy: and they which
hate us spoil for themselves.
PSA 44:11 Thou hast given us like sheep appointed for meat; and hast
scattered us among the heathen.
PSA 44:12 Thou sellest thy people for nought, and dost not increase thy
wealth by their price.
King James Bible |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Falk by Joseph Conrad: And now he couldn't have her? No! That was
too much. After thinking too that . . . What
had he done? What was my advice? Take her by
force? No? Mustn't he? Who was there then
to kill him? For the first time I saw one of his fea-
tures move; a fighting teeth-baring curl of the lip.
. . . "Not Hermann, perhaps." He lost himself
in thought as though he had fallen out of the
world.
I may note that the idea of suicide apparently
did not enter his head for a single moment. It oc-
Falk |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Venus and Adonis by William Shakespeare: From his moist cabinet mounts up on high,
And wakes the morning, from whose silver breast
The sun ariseth in his majesty; 856
Who doth the world so gloriously behold,
That cedar-tops and hills seem burnish'd gold.
Venus salutes him with this fair good morrow:
'O thou clear god, and patron of all light, 860
From whom each lamp and shining star doth borrow
The beauteous influence that makes him bright,
There lives a son that suck'd an earthly mother,
May lend thee light, as thou dost lend to other'
|
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 A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift: Ireland, from being a burden on their parents or country, and for
making them beneficial to the publick.
by Dr. Jonathan Swift. 1729
It is a melancholy object to those, who walk through this great
town, or travel in the country, when they see the streets, the
roads and cabbin-doors crowded with beggars of the female sex,
followed by three, four, or six children, all in rags, and
importuning every passenger for an alms. These mothers instead of
being able to work for their honest livelihood, are forced to
employ all their time in stroling to beg sustenance for their
helpless infants who, as they grow up, either turn thieves for
A Modest Proposal |
