| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce: to his head, he was conscious of nothing but a feeling of
fullness -- of congestion. These sensations were
unaccompanied by thought. The intellectual part of his
nature was already effaced; he had power only to feel, and
feeling was torment. He was conscious of motion.
Encompassed in a luminous cloud, of which he was now merely
the fiery heart, without material substance, he swung
through unthinkable arcs of oscillation, like a vast
pendulum. Then all at once, with terrible suddenness, the
light about him shot upward with the noise of a loud splash;
a frightful roaring was in his ears, and all was cold and
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Bunner Sisters by Edith Wharton: illustrated copy of Longfellow's poems given as a school-prize to
their father.
This change having been made, and the effect studied from
every angle of the room, Evelina languidly put her pinking-machine
on the table, and sat down to the monotonous work of pinking a heap
of black silk flounces. The strips of stuff slid slowly to the
floor at her side, and the clock, from its commanding altitude,
kept time with the dispiriting click of the instrument under her
fingers.
II
The purchase of Evelina's clock had been a more important
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Father Goriot by Honore de Balzac: that is very little; still, to feel something that belongs to
them. Let me touch their hair with my fingers . . . their
hair . . ."
His head fell back on the pillow, as if a sudden heavy blow had
struck him down, but his hands groped feebly over the quilt, as
if to find his daughters' hair.
"My blessing on them . . ." he said, making an effort, "my
blessing . . ."
His voice died away. Just at that moment Bianchon came into the
room.
"I met Christophe," he said; "he is gone for your cab."
Father Goriot |
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 Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne: the journey from Liverpool to London was six hours.
If anyone, at this moment, had entered the Custom House,
he would have found Mr. Fogg seated, motionless, calm, and without
apparent anger, upon a wooden bench. He was not, it is true,
resigned; but this last blow failed to force him into an outward
betrayal of any emotion. Was he being devoured by one of those
secret rages, all the more terrible because contained, and which
only burst forth, with an irresistible force, at the last moment?
No one could tell. There he sat, calmly waiting--for what?
Did he still cherish hope? Did he still believe, now that the door
of this prison was closed upon him, that he would succeed?
Around the World in 80 Days |
