| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Herbert West: Reanimator by H. P. Lovecraft: body could exhibit, without its head, any of the signs of mental
life which had distinguished Sir Eric Moreland Clapham-Lee. Once
a student of reanimation, this silent trunk was now gruesomely
called upon to exemplify it.
I can still see Herbert West under
the sinister electric light as he injected his reanimating solution
into the arm of the headless body. The scene I cannot describe
-- I should faint if I tried it, for there is madness in a room
full of classified charnel things, with blood and lesser human
debris almost ankle-deep on the slimy floor, and with hideous
reptilian abnormalities sprouting, bubbling, and baking over a
Herbert West: Reanimator |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Princess of Parms by Edgar Rice Burroughs: how she had been present at the hearing of the preceding
day, the results of which she had reported to the occupants
of our dormitory last night. Her attitude toward the captive
was most harsh and brutal. When she held her, she sunk her
rudimentary nails into the poor girl's flesh, or twisted her
arm in a most painful manner. When it was necessary to
move from one spot to another she either jerked her roughly,
or pushed her headlong before her. She seemed to be venting
upon this poor defenseless creature all the hatred, cruelty,
ferocity, and spite of her nine hundred years, backed by
unguessable ages of fierce and brutal ancestors.
|
| 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: be able to do.
Among the notable mothers, Dolly Winthrop was the one whose
neighbourly offices were the most acceptable to Marner, for they
were rendered without any show of bustling instruction. Silas had
shown her the half-guinea given to him by Godfrey, and had asked her
what he should do about getting some clothes for the child.
"Eh, Master Marner," said Dolly, "there's no call to buy, no more
nor a pair o' shoes; for I've got the little petticoats as Aaron
wore five years ago, and it's ill spending the money on them
baby-clothes, for the child 'ull grow like grass i' May, bless it--
that it will."
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 Lucile by Owen Meredith: That knowledge is power! Long, long, like that portion
Of the national soil which the Greek exile took
In his baggage wherever he went, may thy book
Cheer each poor British pilgrim, who trusts to thy wit
Not to pay through his nose just for following it!
May'st thou long, O instructor! preside o'er his way,
And teach him alike what to praise and to pay!
Thee, pursuing this pathway of song, once again
I invoke, lest, unskill'd, I should wander in vain.
To my call be propitious, nor, churlish, refuse
Thy great accents to lend to the lips of my Muse;
|
