| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Damaged Goods by Upton Sinclair: new man from then on. He thanked God that there was no chance of
his sin being known, that he might have an opportunity to prove
his new determination.
So intense were his feelings that he could not help betraying a
part of them to Henriette. They sat in the garden one soft
summer evening, with Henriette's mother occupied with her
crocheting at a decorous distance. George, in reverent and
humble mood, began to drop vague hints that he was really
unworthy of his bride-to-be. He said that he had not always been
as good as he should have been; he said that her purity and
sweetness had awakened in him new ideals; so that he felt his old
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy: extreme sorrow. She selected--as much from want of spirit
as design--her poorest, plainest and longest discarded
attire.
To avoid the contingency of being recognized she veiled
herself, and slipped out of the house quickly. The sun was
resting on the hill like a drop of blood on an eyelid by the
time she had got up the road opposite the amphitheatre,
which she speedily entered. The interior was shadowy, and
emphatic of the absence of every living thing.
She was not disappointed in the fearful hope with which
she awaited him. Henchard came over the top, descended and
The Mayor of Casterbridge |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from A House of Pomegranates by Oscar Wilde: 'If in very truth thou art my mother,' he said, 'it had been better
hadst thou stayed away, and not come here to bring me to shame,
seeing that I thought I was the child of some Star, and not a
beggar's child, as thou tellest me that I am. Therefore get thee
hence, and let me see thee no more.'
'Alas! my son,' she cried, 'wilt thou not kiss me before I go? For
I have suffered much to find thee.'
'Nay,' said the Star-Child, 'but thou art too foul to look at, and
rather would I kiss the adder or the toad than thee.'
So the woman rose up, and went away into the forest weeping
bitterly, and when the Star-Child saw that she had gone, he was
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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 Beauty and The Beast by Bayard Taylor: hundred rubles. But how should a tutor or secretary be in
possession of his employer's money? Still, this might be accounted
for; it would imply great trust on the part of the latter, but no
more than one man frequently reposes in another. Yet, if it were
so, one of the memoranda confronted me with a conflicting fact:
"Dinner with Jean, 58 rubles." The unusual amount--nearly fifty
dollars--indicated an act of the most reckless dissipation, and in
company with a servant, if "Jean," as I could scarcely doubt, acted
in that character. I finally decided to assume both these
conjectures as true, and apply them to the remaining testimony.
I first took up the leaf which had been torn out of a small journal
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