| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Lord Arthur Savile's Crime, etc. by Oscar Wilde: almost afraid to turn the key that unlocks the mystery of the
poet's heart? Who was he whose physical beauty was such that it
became the very corner-stone of Shakespeare's art; the very source
of Shakespeare's inspiration; the very incarnation of Shakespeare's
dreams? To look upon him as simply the object of certain love-
poems is to miss the whole meaning of the poems: for the art of
which Shakespeare talks in the Sonnets is not the art of the
Sonnets themselves, which indeed were to him but slight and secret
things - it is the art of the dramatist to which he is always
alluding; and he to whom Shakespeare said -
Thou art all my art, and dost advance
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Sanitary and Social Lectures by Charles Kingsley: theories than we can by coercion--to which, by-the-bye, almost all
these theorists look longingly as their final hope and mainstay.
We must teach men to mend their own matters, of their own reason,
and their own free-will. We must teach them that they are the
arbiters of their own destinies; and, to a fearfully large degree,
of their children's destinies after them. We must teach them not
merely that they ought to be free, but that they are free, whether
they know it or not, for good and for evil. And we must do that
in this case, by teaching them sound practical science; the
science of physiology as applied to health. So, and so only, can
we cheek--I do not say stop entirely--though I believe even that
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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 The Chouans by Honore de Balzac: suddenly struck her foot against a stone and stumbled.
"Take my arm," said her companion.
"It seems I must," she replied; "you would be too proud if I refused;
you would fancy I feared you."
"Ah, mademoiselle," he said, pressing her arm against his heart that
she might feel the beating of it, "you flatter my pride by granting
such a favor."
"Well, the readiness with which I do so will cure your illusions."
"Do you wish to save me from the danger of the emotions you cause?"
"Stop, stop!" she cried; "do not try to entangle me in such boudoir
riddles. I don't like to find the wit of fools in a man of your
The Chouans |
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 Men of Iron by Howard Pyle: the combatants spurred together, checked, wheeled, and recovered,
they would be hidden for a moment in a misty veil of dust, which,
again drifting down the wind, perhaps revealed them drawn a
little apart, resting their panting horses. Then, again, they
would spur together, striking as they passed, wheeling and
striking again.
Upon the scaffolding all was still, only now and then for the
buzz of muffled exclamations or applause of those who looked on.
Mostly the applause was from Myles's friends, for from the very
first he showed and steadily maintained his advantage over the
older man. "Hah! well struck! well recovered!" "Look ye! the
Men of Iron |
