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loved this movie

LISA FRANKENSTEIN (2024) dir. Zelda Williams

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LOVE "Percy Shelley Core"

It's always "it's a problem you sleep till the evening and don't fall asleep till morning" and "Why are you so pale and sickly looking?"

and never "yass go off Lord Byron" and "Percy Shelly core"

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MARY SHELLEY (2017) Dir. Haifaa al-Mansour

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Claire Clairmont in a letter to Jane Williams/Hogg, February 1st 1833:

“But in our family, if you cannot write an epic poem or novel that by its originality knocks all other novels on the head, you are a despicable creature, not worth acknowledging. What would they have done or said had their children been fond of dress, fond of cards, drunken, profligate, as most people’s children are?”

Claire’s step-sister Mary Shelley was the author of Frankenstein, a pioneering work of Science Fiction; Mary’s mother Mary Wollstonecraft was the author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, a pioneering work of Feminism; and her adopted father William Godwin (Mary’s father) was the author of Enquiry Concerning Political Justice, the first work of Anarchism. Godwin’s daughter Fanny was never a writer and committed suicide young; his step-son Charles (Claire’s brother) was a teacher and writer but with no famous works; and his son William (Claire’s half-brother) was a reporter and writer, but an unsuccessful novelist. Claire was talking about her half-brother William when she wrote this excerpt in her letter. Godwin had only two grandchildren who lived past infancy — the son of Percy and Mary Shelley, Percy Florence Shelley, who never wrote at all and had no biological children; and the daughter of Claire Clairmont and Lord Byron, Allegra Byron, who also never wrote for having died young. Claire herself wrote a novel called The Idiot around the same time Mary wrote Frankenstein, but it is now lost to history. Her and Percy failed to get a publishing deal for it; it was only shortly after that he and Mary would manage to get Frankenstein edited and published.

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One stormy night on Lake Leman, Lord Byron proposed a little ghastly writing contest...

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Sylvia Plath, from The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath

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part 1 of PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE ROMANTICS, A TUMBLR HISTORY EXHIBIT: photos i've collected of people related to the english writers of the romantic period and/or who were part of the byron-shelley circle.

Sir Percy Florence Shelley, 3rd Baronet, the only mutual child of Percy Bysshe Shelley and Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, née Godwin, to live into adulthood. Compare him as an older gentleman to the portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Shelley below.

Anne "Annabella" Isabella Noel Byron, 11th Baroness Wentworth and Baroness Byron, née Milbanke (Lord Byron's wife)

Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace, née Byron (Lord and Lady Byron's only child)

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“In truth I am in love with death, no maiden ever took more pleasure in the contemplation of her bridal attire than I in fancying my limbs already enwrapped in their shroud.”

—Mary Shelley, Matilda

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being a romantic era poet: a quick how-to guide

walk around in nature contemplating Things. start hiking, swimming, sailing, rowing, shooting, riding, etc. for inspiration

be obsessed with the french revolution and related enlightenment-era figures like rousseau, voltaire, mary wollstonecraft, and madame de staël. be more disappointed by napoleon bonaparte than you are by your own father. 

speaking of fathers, your parents and most of your other relatives are all either dying or dead or emotionally abusive. if you have any siblings (full, half, step, or adopted) who DIDN'T die tragically already, then you may choose to be close to them. you also may end up being much TOO close to them. various circumstances may also ban you from seeing them. 

be at least slightly touched by madness and/or some other severe illness(es) including but not limited to: consumption, horrors, syphilis, deformities, lameness, terrors, piles, boils, pox, allergies, coughing, sleep abnormalities, gonorrhea, etc. — for which you must take frequent bed rest and copious amounts of Laudanum (opium derivation)

consider foregoing meat and adopting a vegetable diet instead to purify the spirits. you may also abstain from alcohol for the same reasons. alternatively, you may attempt the veggie diet, end up rejecting it, and becoming a rampant alcoholic instead. in romanticism there is no healthy medium between abstinence and excess.

reject, or at least heavily criticize, christianity. refuse to get married in a church and consider becoming a fervent champion of atheism. alternatively, you may embrace catholicism, but only on an aesthetic basis. eastern religions and minority religions are also acceptable, only because they piss off the christians. 

if you’re not a self-hating member of the aristocracy and instead have to work for a living, do something that allows you to benefit society, be creative, and/or contemplate life. viable options include, but are not limited to: apothecarist, doctor, teacher, preacher, lawyer, farmer, printmaker, publisher, editor. there is also the possibility of earning a few coins from your art. if you were cursed to be born a She, no worries. we believe in equality. you may choose from these occupations: wife, nanny, housekeeper, spinster, amanuensis (copy writer for a man), lady’s companion, divorced wife, singer/actress/escort, widow, regular escort, tutor, or housewife. 

speaking of sexist institutions, try rejecting marriage entirely. Declare your eternal devotion to your lover by having sex with them on your mother’s grave instead.

if you do get married — elope, and only let it be for necessary financial reasons, or to try and save a teenage girl from her controlling family, or out of true love with someone you view as your intellectual equal, or because your life is so racked with scandals and debt that you can only clear your name by matrimony to a wealthy religious woman as your last resort before fleeing the country.

After marriage, quickly assert your belief in the powers of free love and bisexuality by taking extramarital lovers and suggesting your spouse follow suit. If they cannot keep up with your intellectual escapades then consider leaving them. Later on, propose a platonic friendship with them following the separation, or beg them for reconciliation.

If your marriage is happy, try moving in with another bohemian couple to shake things up. Alternatively, you may die before the wedding for dramatic effect.

If you beget children (whether in or out of marriage, makes no matter), do society a favor by choosing to raise them with your beliefs. Consider adopting orphan children, or even non-orphan children. If their parents are poor enough they probably won’t mind. Try kidnapp— I mean adopting — children off the side of the road if you can. 

DIE but do it creatively. ideally young. ideas: prophecy your own death, lead an army into war and then die right before your first battle and on your deathbed curse everyone and demand to see a witch, write a will leaving money to your mistresses or some random young man you have an unrequited romantic obsession with, carry a copy of your dead friend's poetry and read it right before you drown so that your washed up corpse can only be identified by his book in your pocket, die while staring at your lover's shriveled up heart that you keep wrapped up in a copy of his own poetry and then be buried with it, die of the poet's illness (consumption) while your artist friend draws you and then be buried with your lover's writing, get mysteriously poisoned (by yourself) after a series of scandals and accidents and then have your family announce that you were killed by god, die from romanticizing poverty or receiving bad reviews from literary critics, die from walking or horseback riding in the cold and the rain while poeticizing, etc.

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"To see the world in a grain of sand/And a heaven in a wild flower/Hold infinity in your hand/And eternity in an hour."

--William Blake

Photo: LIlacia Park, Lombard, Illinois

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ATTENTION ALL BYRONISTS! in honor of this being the 200th year of byron's death, newstead abbey (byron's historically preserved estate) released videos showing off some of their artefacts earlier this year! they can be seen on the nottingham museums youtube channel here

they recently released a video about some of the clothing byron purchased in albania and wore in his most famous portrait!

i also found this amazing project where a student recreated some of byron's clothing and 18th/19th century fashion to great effect. the clothes are (or were recently) at newstead abbey and available to be tried on by guests. this might be of interest to you who are into historical costuming recreation.

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