| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Black Tulip by Alexandre Dumas: wanted to see you."
"See me?"
"Yes, it must have undoubtedly been only a pretext for now,
when he could plead the same reason, as you are my father's
prisoner again, he does not care any longer for you; quite
the contrary, -- I heard him say to my father only yesterday
that he did not know you."
"Go on, Rosa, pray do, that I may guess who that man is, and
what he wants."
"Are you quite sure, Mynheer Cornelius, that none of your
friends can interest himself for you?"
The Black Tulip |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Shadow out of Time by H. P. Lovecraft: to its horror-filled core, before the utter end.
Meanwhile,
in my dreams, I wrote endlessly in that history of my own age
which I was preparing - half voluntarily and half through promises
of increased library and travel opportunities - for the Great
Race's central archives. The archives were in a colossal subterranean
structure near the city's center, which I came to know well through
frequent labors and consultations. Meant to last as long as the
race, and to withstand the fiercest of earth's convulsions, this
titan repository surpassed all other buildings in the massive,
mountain-like firmness of its construction.
Shadow out of Time |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Children of the Night by Edwin Arlington Robinson: And he was rich, -- yes, richer than a king, --
And admirably schooled in every grace:
In fine, we thought that he was everything
To make us wish that we were in his place.
So on we worked, and waited for the light,
And went without the meat, and cursed the bread;
And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,
Went home and put a bullet through his head.
Two Octaves
I
Not by the grief that stuns and overwhelms
|
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 Woman and Labour by Olive Schreiner: which we term "modern civilisation" is advanced.
It manifests itself more in England and America than in Italy and Spain,
more in great cities than in country places, more among the wealthier
classes than the poorer, and is an unfailing indication of advancing modern
civilisation. (There is, indeed, often something pathetic in the attitude
of many a good old mother of the race, who having survived, here and there,
into the heart of our modern civilisation, is sorely puzzled by the change
in woman's duties and obligations. She may be found looking into the eyes
of some ancient crone, who, like herself, has survived from a previous
state of civilisation, seeking there a confirmation of a view of life of
which a troublous doubt has crept even into her own soul. "I," she cries,
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