| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Statesman by Plato: digressions. His own image may be used as a motto of his style: like an
inexpert statuary he has made the figure or outline too large, and is
unable to give the proper colours or proportions to his work. He makes
mistakes only to correct them--this seems to be his way of drawing
attention to common dialectical errors. The Eleatic stranger, here, as in
the Sophist, has no appropriate character, and appears only as the
expositor of a political ideal, in the delineation of which he is
frequently interrupted by purely logical illustrations. The younger
Socrates resembles his namesake in nothing but a name. The dramatic
character is so completely forgotten, that a special reference is twice
made to discussions in the Sophist; and this, perhaps, is the strongest
Statesman |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from House of Mirth by Edith Wharton: diversifying its conventional appearance by the varied
picturesqueness of their dress. Lily, however, was not among
them, and her absence served to protract the effect she had
produced on Selden: it would have broken the spell to see her too
soon in the surroundings from which accident had so happily
detached her. They had not met since the day of the Van Osburgh
wedding, and on his side the avoidance had been intentional.
Tonight, however, he knew that, sooner or later, he should find
himself at her side; and though he let the dispersing crowd drift
him whither it would, without making an immediate effort to reach
her, his procrastination was not due to any lingering resistance,
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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 Lin McLean by Owen Wister: conversation, her equipped deportment, the maturity in her round, blue,
marble eye. Her abrupt laugh, something beyond gay, was now sounding in
response to Mr. McLean's lively sallies, and I found him fanning her into
convalescence with his hat. She herself made but few remarks, but allowed
the cow-puncher to entertain her, merely exclaiming briefly now and then,
"I declare!" and "If you ain't!" Lin was most certainly engaging, if that
was the lady's meaning. His wide-open eyes sparkled upon her, and he half
closed them now and then to look at her more effectively. I suppose she
was worth it to him. I have forgotten to say that she was handsome in a
large California-fruit style. They made a good-looking pair of animals.
But it was in the presence of Tommy that Master Lin shone more
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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 All's Well That Ends Well by William Shakespeare: COUNTESS.
Not much employment for you: you understand me?
CLOWN.
Most fruitfully: I am there before my legs.
COUNTESS.
Haste you again.
[Exeunt severally.]
SCENE 3. Paris. The KING'S palace.
[Enter BERTRAM, LAFEU, and PAROLLES.]
LAFEU.
They say miracles are past; and we have our philosophical
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