| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Wrecker by Stevenson & Osbourne: a small parcel of architectural works.
"Mr. Loudon bids me add," continued the lawyer, consulting a
little sheet of notes, "that although these volumes are very
valuable to the practical builder, you must be careful not to lose
originality. He tells you also not to be 'hadden doun'--his own
expression--by the theory of strains, and that Portland cement,
properly sanded, will go a long way."
I smiled, and remarked that I supposed it would.
"I once lived in one of my excellent client's houses," observed
the lawyer; "and I was tempted, in that case, to think it had
gone far enough."
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Father Goriot by Honore de Balzac: all actions as means to an end, and the end is all that I look
at. What is a man's life to me? Not THAT," he said, and he
snapped his thumb-nail against his teeth. "A man, in short, is
everything to me, or just nothing at all. Less than nothing if
his name happens to be Poiret; you can crush him like a bug, he
is flat and he is offensive. But a man is a god when he is like
you; he is not a machine covered with a skin, but a theatre in
which the greatest sentiments are displayed--great thoughts and
feelings--and for these, and these only, I live. A sentiment--
what is that but the whole world in a thought? Look at Father
Goriot. For him, his two girls are the whole universe; they are
Father Goriot |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Soul of Man by Oscar Wilde: unworthy of him, and either of a thoroughly second-rate order, or
of no artistic value whatsoever.
Perhaps, however, I have wronged the public in limiting them to
such words as 'immoral,' 'unintelligible,' 'exotic,' and
'unhealthy.' There is one other word that they use. That word is
'morbid.' They do not use it often. The meaning of the word is so
simple that they are afraid of using it. Still, they use it
sometimes, and, now and then, one comes across it in popular
newspapers. It is, of course, a ridiculous word to apply to a work
of art. For what is morbidity but a mood of emotion or a mode of
thought that one cannot express? The public are all morbid,
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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 Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte: You're pining for pure love, are you not? nothing else in the
world: and she shall have you! There, to bed! Zillah won't be
here to-night; you must undress yourself. Hush! hold your noise!
Once in your own room, I'll not come near you: you needn't fear.
By chance, you've managed tolerably. I'll look to the rest.'
He spoke these words, holding the door open for his son to pass,
and the latter achieved his exit exactly as a spaniel might which
suspected the person who attended on it of designing a spiteful
squeeze. The lock was re-secured. Heathcliff approached the fire,
where my mistress and I stood silent. Catherine looked up, and
instinctively raised her hand to her cheek: his neighbourhood
Wuthering Heights |
