Animadversion

A steel engraving of Mary Shelley’s 1831 edition of Frankenstein

Even if I should indiscreetly

write the perfect sentence, it isn’t English—

I go to bed Lord Byron, and wake up bald.

—Lowell, “Fever”

I go to bed effete and wake up Frankenstein.

The critter must be whipped and kept in line,

a task that troubles me the livelong day—

but this is got departing from the way

stretched out before me studying our time,

which tells me not to keep the beast at bay,

but to write English lying on my bed

or any other tongue that shows up instead

(no matter what I write, we’ll soon be dead),

amusing my mad self, and perhaps some friends of mine.

Note: "Animadversion comes ultimately from the Latin phrase animum advertere, meaning 'to turn the mind to.'"—Merriam Webster.

Monday, 21 July, 2025