| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Misalliance by George Bernard Shaw: TARLETON. John Tarleton. The great John Tarleton of Tarleton's
Underwear.
LINA. _[writing]_ T-a-r-l-e-t-o-n. Er--? _[She looks up at him
inquiringly]._
TARLETON. _[promptly]_ Fifty-eight.
LINA. Thank you. I keep a list of all my offers. I like to know
what I'm considered worth.
TARLETON. Let me look.
LINA. _[offering the book to him]_ It's in Polish.
TARLETON. Thats no good. Is mine the lowest offer?
LINA. No: the highest.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Vendetta by Honore de Balzac: one.
At this moment, however, the presence of Madame Servin produced an
interlude in the drama thus played below the surface in these various
young hearts, the sentiments, ideas, and progress of which were
expressed by phrases that were almost allegorical, by mischievous
glances, by gestures, by silence even, more intelligible than words.
As soon as Madame Servin entered the studio, her eyes turned to the
door near which Ginevra was seated. Under present circumstances the
fact of this glance was not lost. Though at first none of the pupils
took notice of it, Mademoiselle Thirion recollected it later, and it
explained to her the doubt, fear, and mystery which now gave something
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe: in a passionate devotion to the intricacies, perhaps even more
than to the orthodox and easily recognisable beauties of musical
science. I had learned, too, the very remarkable fact, that the
stem of the Usher race, all time-honoured as it was, had put
forth, at no period, any enduring branch; in other words, that
the entire family lay in the direct line of descent, and had
always, with very trifling and very temporary variation, so lain.
It was this deficiency, I considered, while running over in
thought the perfect keeping of the character of the premises with
the accredited character of the people, and while speculating
upon the possible influence which the one, in the long
The Fall of the House of Usher |
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 Phaedrus by Plato: totality has the care of inanimate being everywhere, and traverses the
whole heaven in divers forms appearing--when perfect and fully winged she
soars upward, and orders the whole world; whereas the imperfect soul,
losing her wings and drooping in her flight at last settles on the solid
ground--there, finding a home, she receives an earthly frame which appears
to be self-moved, but is really moved by her power; and this composition of
soul and body is called a living and mortal creature. For immortal no such
union can be reasonably believed to be; although fancy, not having seen nor
surely known the nature of God, may imagine an immortal creature having
both a body and also a soul which are united throughout all time. Let
that, however, be as God wills, and be spoken of acceptably to him. And
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