| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy: woman knocking at a door which she would not open;
and she shrank from contemplating it. Yet it was better
for Yeobright himself when he spoke openly of his
sharp regret, for in silence he endured infinitely more,
and would sometimes remain so long in a tense, brooding mood,
consuming himself by the gnawing of his thought, that it
was imperatively necessary to make him talk aloud, that his
grief might in some degree expend itself in the effort.
Eustacia had not been long indoors after her look at
the moonlight when a soft footstep came up to the house,
and Thomasin was announced by the woman downstairs.
Return of the Native |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Caesar's Commentaries in Latin by Julius Caesar: nobilissimos civitatis et iure iurando civitatem obstringere sese neque
obsides repetituros neque auxilium a populo Romano imploraturos neque
recusaturos quo minus perpetuo sub illorum dicione atque imperio essent.
Unum se esse ex omni civitate Haeduorum qui adduci non potuerit ut iuraret
aut liberos suos obsides daret. Ob eam rem se ex civitate profugisse et
Romam ad senatum venisse auxilium postulatum, quod solus neque iure
iurando neque obsidibus teneretur. Sed peius victoribus Sequanis quam
Haeduis victis accidisse, propterea quod Ariovistus, rex Germanorum, in
eorum finibus consedisset tertiamque partem agri Sequani, qui esset
optimus totius Galliae, occupavisset et nunc de altera parte tertia
Sequanos decedere iuberet, propterea quod paucis mensibus ante Harudum
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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 Elixir of Life by Honore de Balzac: the translation of the blessed Don Juan Belvidero to the abbey-
church. The tale of the partial resurrection had spread so
quickly from village to village, that a day or two after the
death of the illustrious nobleman the report had reached every
place within fifty miles of San-Lucar, and it was as good as a
play to see the roads covered already with crowds flocking in on
all sides, their curiosity whetted still further by the prospect
of a Te Deum sung by torchlight. The old abbey church of San-
Lucar, a marvelous building erected by the Moors, a mosque of
Allah, which for three centuries had heard the name of Christ,
could not hold the throng that poured in to see the ceremony.
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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 Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare: But heauen keepes his part in eternall life:
The most you sought was her promotion,
For 'twas your heauen, she shouldst be aduan'st,
And weepe ye now, seeing she is aduan'st
Aboue the Cloudes, as high as Heauen it selfe?
O in this loue, you loue your Child so ill,
That you run mad, seeing that she is well:
Shee's not well married, that liues married long,
But shee's best married, that dies married yong.
Drie vp your teares, and sticke your Rosemarie
On this faire Coarse, and as the custome is,
Romeo and Juliet |
