| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Mrs. Warren's Profession by George Bernard Shaw: lovers who have adored them in spite of their levities.
Naturally, the poorer girls in the gallery will believe in the
beauty, in the exquisite dresses, and the luxurious living, and
will see that there is no real necessity for the consumption, the
suicide, or the ejectment: mere pious forms, all of them, to save
the Censor's face. Even if these purely official catastrophes
carried any conviction, the majority of English girls remain so
poor, so dependent, so well aware that the drudgeries of such
honest work as is within their reach are likely enough to lead
them eventually to lung disease, premature death, and domestic
desertion or brutality, that they would still see reason to
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Rivers to the Sea by Sara Teasdale: Where stars stare down with sharpened faces
From heavens pitilessly blue.
And there at midnight sick with faring,
He will stoop down in his desire
To slake the thirst grown past all bearing
In stagnant water keen as fire.
LONGING
I AM not sorry for my soul
That it must go unsatisfied,
For it can live a thousand times,
Eternity is deep and wide.
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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 Thuvia, Maid of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs: their empty battle--neither, evidently, has power to harm
the other. They are like two controversialists hurling
words at one another. While they are engaged we may
as well be devoting our energies to an attempt to find
the passage through the cliffs to the plain beyond."
As he spoke, Jav, turning from the battle for an instant,
caught his words. He saw the girl move to accompany the
Heliumite. A cunning look leaped to the Lotharian's eyes.
The thing that lay beyond that look had been deep
in his heart since first he had laid eyes upon Thuvia
of Ptarth. He had not recognized it, however, until now
Thuvia, Maid of Mars |
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 Forged Coupon by Leo Tolstoy: over the leaves of the Gospel. Having found
what he was looking for, Chouev smoothed the
page with his large and strong hand, which had
become exceedingly white in prison:
"And there were also two other malefactors,
led with Him"--it means with Christ--"to be
put to death. And when they were come to the
place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified
Him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand,
and the other on the left. Then said Jesus,--
'Father, forgive them; for they know not what
The Forged Coupon |
