| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Unseen World and Other Essays by John Fiske: philosophical; or, to speak yet more generally, the artistic and
the critical. The former is distinguished by a concrete, the
latter by an abstract, imagination. The former sees things
synthetically, in all their natural complexity; the latter pulls
things to pieces analytically, and scrutinizes their relations.
The former sees a tree in all its glory, where the latter sees an
exogen with a pair of cotyledons. The former sees wholes, where
the latter sees aggregates.
Corresponding with these two kinds of genius there are two
classes of artistic productions. When the critical genius writes
a poem or a novel, he constructs his plot and his characters in
The Unseen World and Other Essays |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Youth by Joseph Conrad: at me with a queer kind of shocked curiosity. I did not
know that I had no hair, no eyebrows, no eyelashes, that
my young mustache was burnt off, that my face was
black, one cheek laid open, my nose cut, and my chin
bleeding. I had lost my cap, one of my slippers, and
my shirt was torn to rags. Of all this I was not aware.
I was amazed to see the ship still afloat, the poop-deck
whole--and, most of all, to see anybody alive. Also
the peace of the sky and the serenity of the sea were
istinctly surprising. I suppose I expected to see them
convulsed with horror. . . . Pass the bottle.
Youth |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Koran: hatred is greater than your hatred of each other when ye were called
unto the faith and misbelieved!' They shall say, 'Our Lord! Thou
hast killed us twice, and Thou hast quickened us twice; and we do
confess our sins: is there then a way for getting out?'
That is because when God alone was proclaimed ye did disbelieve; but
when partners were joined to Him ye did believe; but judgment
belongs to God, the high, the great! He it is who shows you His signs,
and sends down to you from heaven provision; but none is mindful
except him who turns repentant; then call on God, being sincere in
your religion to Him, averse although the misbelievers be! Exalted
of degrees! The Lord of the throne! He throws the spirit by His
The Koran |
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 Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne: sea-foam had taken the shape of a little maid, and were gifted
with a soul of the sea-fire, that flashes beneath the prow in the
night-time.
One of these seafaring men the shipmaster, indeed, who had spoken
to Hester Prynne was so smitten with Pearl's aspect, that he
attempted to lay hands upon her, with purpose to snatch a kiss.
Finding it as impossible to touch her as to catch a humming-bird
in the air, he took from his hat the gold chain that was twisted
about it, and threw it to the child. Pearl immediately twined it
around her neck and waist with such happy skill, that, once seen
The Scarlet Letter |
