| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Early Short Fiction of Edith Wharton by Edith Wharton: she had given it, but he was so unhappy at going that she had not
had the courage to refuse.
Her husband was away at the time. When he returned a few days
later he picked up the little dog to pet it, and noticed that its
collar was missing. His wife told him that the dog had lost it
in the undergrowth of the park, and that she and her maids had
hunted a whole day for it. It was true, she explained to the
court, that she had made the maids search for the necklet--they
all believed the dog had lost it in the park. . .
Her husband made no comment, and that evening at supper he was in
his usual mood, between good and bad: you could never tell which.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin: when climate, for instance extreme cold, acts directly, it will be the
least vigorous, or those which have got least food through the advancing
winter, which will suffer most. When we travel from south to north, or
from a damp region to a dry, we invariably see some species gradually
getting rarer and rarer, and finally disappearing; and the change of
climate being conspicuous, we are tempted to attribute the whole effect to
its direct action. But this is a very false view: we forget that each
species, even where it most abounds, is constantly suffering enormous
destruction at some period of its life, from enemies or from competitors
for the same place and food; and if these enemies or competitors be in the
least degree favoured by any slight change of climate, they will increase
On the Origin of Species |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson: Faintly sound the falling feet;
And the blue even slowly falls
About the garden trees and walls.
Now in the falling of the gloom
The red fire paints the empty room:
And warmly on the roof it looks,
And flickers on the back of books.
Armies march by tower and spire
Of cities blazing, in the fire;--
Till as I gaze with staring eyes,
The armies fall, the lustre dies.
A Child's Garden of Verses |
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 Contrast by Royall Tyler: CHARLOTTE
I am very happy to hear that they are well. [Coolly.]
Brother, will you give me leave to introduce you to our
uncle's ward, one of my most intimate friends?
MANLY [saluting Letitia].
I ought to regard your friends as my own.
CHARLOTTE
Come, Letitia, do give us a little dash of your
vivacity; my brother is so sentimental and so grave,
that I protest he'll give us the vapours.
MANLY
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