| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Poems of Goethe, Bowring, Tr. by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: Which is destroying the world, and already has wholly uprooted
Many a time-honour'd fabric, has driven the poor thing to exile.
Are not brave men of noble birth now wand'ring in mis'ry?
Princes are fleeing disguised, and monarchs in banishment living.
Ah, and she also herself, the best of her sisters, is driven
Out of her native land; but her own misfortunes forgetting,
Others she seeks to console, and, though helpless, is also most helpful.
Great are the woes and distress which over the earth's face are brooding,
But may happiness not be evoked from out of this sorrow?
May not I, in the arms of my bride, the wife I have chosen,
Even rejoice at the war, as you at the great conflagration?"
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Black Tulip by Alexandre Dumas: involuntary movement; and lastly he saw the officer who was
taking care of Rosa lead, or rather push her forward towards
him.
At the sight of Rosa, a double cry arose on the right and
left of the Prince.
Boxtel, thunderstruck, and Cornelius, in joyful amazement,
both exclaimed, --
"Rosa! Rosa!"
"This tulip is yours, is it not, my child?" said the Prince.
"Yes, Monseigneur," stammered Rosa, whose striking beauty
excited a general murmur of applause.
The Black Tulip |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Eugenie Grandet by Honore de Balzac: get their ends; Nanon abandoned the sugar for the sake of getting the
/galette/.
"Mademoiselle!" she called through the window, "do you want some
/galette/?"
"No, no," answered Eugenie.
"Come, Nanon," said Grandet, hearing his daughter's voice. "See here."
He opened the cupboard where the flour was kept, gave her a cupful,
and added a few ounces of butter to the piece he had already cut off.
"I shall want wood for the oven," said the implacable Nanon.
"Well, take what you want," he answered sadly; "but in that case you
must make us a fruit-tart, and you'll cook the whole dinner in the
Eugenie Grandet |
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 Divine Comedy (translated by H.F. Cary) by Dante Alighieri: "This sacrifice in essence of two things
Consisteth; one is that, whereof 't is made,
The covenant the other. For the last,
It ne'er is cancell'd if not kept: and hence
I spake erewhile so strictly of its force.
For this it was enjoin'd the Israelites,
Though leave were giv'n them, as thou know'st, to change
The offering, still to offer. Th' other part,
The matter and the substance of the vow,
May well be such, to that without offence
It may for other substance be exchang'd.
The Divine Comedy (translated by H.F. Cary) |
