“Alas! Why does man boast of sensibilities superior to those apparent in the brute; it only renders them more necessary beings. If our impulses were confined to hunger, thirst, and desire, we might be nearly free; but now we are moved by every wind that blows, and a chance word or scene that that word may convey to us.
‘We rest; a dream has power to poison sleep.
We rise; one wand’ring thought pollutes the day.
We feel, conceive, or reason; laugh or weep.
Embrace found woe, or cast our cares away;
It is the same: for, be it joy or sorrow,
The path of its departure still is free.
Man’s yesterday may ne’er be like his morrow;
Nought may endure but mutability!’” (Shelley 51).
This passage is from the poem “Mutability” by Percy Shelley, husband of Mary Shelley. This passage, including the poem, bemoans how tied humans are to their emotions, as opposed to animals, and at how quickly these emotions can change; hence, “nought may endure but mutability.”
1 comment:
superb..keying on the most vital word and explaining how mutability proves fundamental to understanding both Frankenstein and the poem
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