| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Pericles by William Shakespeare: [Exit.]
SCENE I. On board Pericles' ship, off Mytilene. A close pavilion
on deck, with a curtain before it; Pericles within it, reclined
on a couch. A barge lying beside the Tyrian vessel.
[Enter two Sailors, one belonging to the Tyrian vessel, the other
to the barge; to them Helicanus.]
TYRIAN SAILOR.
[To the Sailor of Mytilene.]
Where is lord Helicanus? he can resolve you.
O, here he is.
Sir, there's a barge put off from Mytilene,
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Perfect Wagnerite: A Commentary on the Niblung's Ring by George Bernard Shaw: musical fabric is enormously elaborate and gorgeous; but you
cannot say, as you must in witnessing The Rhme Gold, The
Valkyries, and the first two acts of Siegfried, that you have
never seen anything like it before, and that the inspiration is
entirely original. Not only the action, but most of the poetry,
might conceivably belong to an Elizabethan drama. The situation
of Cleopatra and Antony is unconsciously reproduced without being
bettered, or even equalled in point of majesty and musical
expression. The loss of al! simplicity and dignity, the
impossibility of any credible scenic presentation of the
incidents, and the extreme staginess of the conventions by which
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from My Antonia by Willa Cather: She had come to Lincoln, a country girl, with no introductions
except to some cousins of Mrs. Thomas who lived there, and she was
already making clothes for the women of `the young married set.'
Evidently she had great natural aptitude for her work.
She knew, as she said, `what people looked well in.'
She never tired of poring over fashion-books. Sometimes in the evening
I would find her alone in her work-room, draping folds of satin
on a wire figure, with a quite blissful expression of countenance.
I couldn't help thinking that the years when Lena literally hadn't
enough clothes to cover herself might have something to do with her
untiring interest in dressing the human figure. Her clients said
My Antonia |
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 Democracy In America, Volume 2 by Alexis de Toqueville: President. But in choosing the President, the votes shall be
taken by States, the representation from each State having one
vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or
members from two-thirds of the States, and a majority of all the
States shall be necessary to a choice. And if the House of
Representatives shall not choose a President whenever the right
of choice shall devolve upon them, before the fourth day of March
next following, then the Vice-President shall act as President,
as in the case of the death or other constitutional disability of
the President. The person having the greatest number of votes as
Vice- President, shall be the Vice-President, if such a number be
|
