| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Ballads by Robert Louis Stevenson: And out of a thousand singers nine were numbered to die.
Till, of a sudden, a shock, a mace in the air, a yell,
And, struck in the edge of the crowd, the first of the victims fell. (8)
Terror and horrible glee divided the shrinking clan,
Terror of what was to follow, glee for a diet of man.
Frenzy hurried the chaunt, frenzy rattled the drums;
The nobles, high on the terrace, greedily mouthed their thumbs;
And once and again and again, in the ignorant crowd below,
Once and again and again descended the murderous blow.
Now smoked the oven, and now, with the cutting lip of a shell,
A butcher of ninety winters jointed the bodies well.
Ballads |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Euthydemus by Plato: good for nothing, no one will dispute their title to the palm of wisdom,
for that they are themselves really the wisest, although they are apt to be
mauled by Euthydemus and his friends, when they get hold of them in
conversation. This opinion which they entertain of their own wisdom is
very natural; for they have a certain amount of philosophy, and a certain
amount of political wisdom; there is reason in what they say, for they
argue that they have just enough of both, and so they keep out of the way
of all risks and conflicts and reap the fruits of their wisdom.
CRITO: What do you say of them, Socrates? There is certainly something
specious in that notion of theirs.
SOCRATES: Yes, Crito, there is more speciousness than truth; they cannot
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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 Spirit of the Border by Zane Grey: curled upward, and near the blaze hovered ruddy-faced women who stirred the
contents of steaming kettles. One man swung an axe with a vigorous sweep, and
the clean, sharp strokes rang on the air; another hammered stakes into the
ground on which to hang a kettle. Before a large cabin a fur-trader was
exhibiting his wares to three Indians. A second redskin was carrying a pack of
pelts from a canoe drawn up on the river bank. A small group of persons stood
near; some were indifferent, and others gazed curiously at the savages. Two
children peeped from behind their mother's skirts as if half-curious,
half-frightened.
From this scene, the significance of which had just dawned on him, Joe turned
his eyes again to his companion. It was a sweet face he saw; one that was
The Spirit of the Border |
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 Frankenstein by Mary Shelley: Great God! what a scene has just taken place! I am yet dizzy
with the remembrance of it. I hardly know whether I shall have
the power to detail it; yet the tale which I have recorded would be
incomplete without this final and wonderful catastrophe. I entered
the cabin where lay the remains of my ill-fated and admirable friend.
Over him hung a form which I cannot find words to describe--gigantic
in stature, yet uncouth and distorted in its proportions.
As he hung over the coffin, his face was concealed by long locks
of ragged hair; but one vast hand was extended, in colour and apparent
texture like that of a mummy. When he heard the sound of my approach,
he ceased to utterexclamations of grief and horror and sprung towards
Frankenstein |
