Careful Words

element (n.)

I took it for a faery vision

Of some gay creatures of the element,

That in the colours of the rainbow live,

And play i' th' plighted clouds.

John Milton (1608-1674): Comus. Line 298.

The low'ring element

Scowls o'er the darken'd landscape.

John Milton (1608-1674): Paradise Lost. Book ii. Line 490.

One God, one law, one element,

And one far-off divine event

To which the whole creation moves.

Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892): In Memoriam. Conclusion. Stanza 36.

Hysterica passio, down, thou climbing sorrow,

Thy element's below.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): King Lear. Act ii. Sc. 4.