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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
MARY SHELLEY IN BRIGANTINE, by STEPHEN ELLIOTT DUNN Poet's Biography First Line: Because the ostracized experience the world Alternate Author Name(s): Dunn, Stephen Subject(s): Shelley, Mary Wollenstonecraft Godwin | |||
Because the ostracized experience the world in ways peculiar to themselves, often seeing it clearly yet with such anger and longing that they sometimes enlarge what they see, she at first saw Brigantine as a paradise for gulls. She must be a horseshoe crab washed ashore. How startling, though, no one knew about her past, the scandal with Percy, the tragic early deaths, yet sad that her Frankenstein had become just a name, like Dracula or Satan, something that stood for a kind of scariness, good for a laugh. She found herself welcome everywhere. People would tell her about Brigantine Castle, turned into a house of horror. They thought she'd be pleased that her monster roamed its dark corridors, making children scream. They lamented the day it was razed. Thus Mary Shelley found herself accepted by those who had no monster in them -- the most frightening people alive, she thought. Didn't they know Frankenstein had abandoned his creation, set him loose without guidance or a name? Didn't they know what it feels like to be lost, freaky, forever seeking who you are? She was amazed now that people believed you could shop for everything you might need. She loved that in the dunes you could almost hide. At the computer store she asked an expert if there was such a thing as too much knowledge, or going too far? He directed her to a website where he thought the answers were. Yet Mary Shelley realized that the pain she felt all her life was gone. Could her children, dead so young, be alive somewhere, too? She couldn't know that only her famous mother had such a chance. She was almost ready to praise this awful world. Copyright (c) 2001 by The Modern Poetry Association. This poem appears in the September 2001 issue of Poetry Magazine. http://www.poetrymagazine.org | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TO MARY (2) by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY TO MARY SHELLEY by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY TO MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT GODWIN by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY TRELAWNY BURNED SHELLEY'S HEART by JAMES HARRISON BUCOLIC COMEDY: THE DOLL by EDITH SITWELL THE HIGH TIDE AT [OR, ON THE COAST OF] LINCOLNSHIRE by JEAN INGELOW |
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