Mary Shelley
British · 19th century
English author best known for Frankenstein (1818), a foundational work of both the Romantic and Gothic literary traditions.
Connection to Taylor Swift
Uncle Jerry connects the ice imagery in 'the lakes' to the Romantic use of ice in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, where Frankenstein escapes over the ice flows.
Notable Works
- Frankenstein, The Last Man, Mathilda
Appears in the Archive
Context within the Archive
Frankenstein
“A red rose grew up out of ice frozen ground”
Angela & Uncle Jerry connect the ice imagery in 'A red rose grew up out of ice frozen ground' to the Romantic use of ice, specifically noting that in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Frankenstein escapes over the ice flows. Uncle Jerry says the Romantics loved the idea of ice and uses Frankenstein as the key example.
Frankenstein
“And I'm a monster on the hill Too big to hang out, slowly lurching toward your favorite city Pierced through the heart, but never killed”
Alongside the hosts' Beauty and the Beast reading, community readers hear Mary Shelley's creature in the monster on the hill: a being made monstrous by someone else's ambition, lurching toward the town that fears it, pierced through the heart yet unable to die. The "slowly lurching" diction and the wound that never finishes the job both point at Frankenstein's creature rather than the enchanted Beast, a figure who is hated for a monstrousness he did not choose.
Frankenstein
“You made her like that”
Uncle Jerry discusses the theme of making your own monsters, listing Victor Frankenstein as someone who created his own monster. He connects this to the song's argument that the 'you' helped make the speaker into a mad woman, you create your own troubles.