| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Poor and Proud by Oliver Optic: words out of my head, since you have told me about my father. I
feel just as though everything would come out right, it does go
very bad just now."
"I am glad you feel so, Katy," added Mrs. Redburn. "It will make
you much better contented with your lot. I have suffered so much
that I cannot help repining a little, though I feel that my
destiny and yours is in the hands of the wise Father, who
bringeth good out of evil."
Katy had not yet reached that spirit of meek submission to the
will of Heaven which looks upward in the hour of trial, not
doubting that the all-wise God knows best what is for the good of
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Maid Marian by Thomas Love Peacock: Of the bounds of the forest wherein it was made:
But he roamed where he listed, as free as the wind,
And he left his good vow in the forest behind:
For its woods out of sight were his vow out of mind,
With the friar of Rubygill.
In lonely hut himself he shut,
The friar of Rubygill;
Where the ghostly elf absolved himself,
To follow his own good will:
And he had no lack of canary sack,
To keep his conscience still.
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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 Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy: the ground from between copper-coloured and lilac clouds,
stretched out in flats beneath a sky of pale soft green.
All dark objects on the earth that lay towards the sun
were overspread by a purple haze, against which groups
of wailing gnats shone out, rising upwards and dancing about
like sparks of fire.
"O! this leaving you is too hard to bear!"
exclaimed Eustacia in a sudden whisper of anguish.
"Your mother will influence you too much; I shall not be
judged fairly, it will get afloat that I am not a good girl,
and the witch story will be added to make me blacker!"
Return of the Native |
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 Egmont by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe: it! When the trumpet sounds, when a shot falls, it thrills through my bone
and marrow! But, alas, it does not rouse me! It does not summon me to
join the onslaught, to rescue, to dare.--Wretched, degrading position!
Better end it at once! Not long ago, I threw myself into the water; I sank --
but nature in her agony was too strong for me; I felt that I could swim, and
saved myself against my will. Could I but forget the time when she loved
me, seemed to love me!--Why has this happiness penetrated my very bone
and marrow? Why have these hopes, while disclosing to me a distant
paradise, consumed all the enjoyment of life?--And that first, that only
kiss!--Here (laying his hand upon the table), here we were alone,--she had
always been kind and friendly towards me,--then she seemed to soften,--
Egmont |
