[notsecrethistory]

“But soon,” he cried with sad and solemn enthusiasm, “I shall die, and what I now feel be no longer felt. Soon these burning miseries will be extinct. I shall ascend my funeral pile triumphantly and exult in the agony of the torturing flames. The light of that conflagration will fade away; my ashes will be swept into the sea by the winds. My spirit will sleep in peace, or if it thinks, it will not surely think thus. Farewell.”

— Mary Shelley «Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus»

[notsecrethistory]

I really tried to do something useful today but it ended up like that. Rereading “The Goldfinch” has already become some kind of my fall tradition.

[notsecrethistory]

THE world is dreary,

And I'm weary

Of wandering on without thee, Mary;

A joy was erewhile

In thy voice and thy smile,

And 'tis gone, when I should be gone too, Mary.

— “To Mary Shelley” by Percy Bysshe Shelley

***

My dearest Mary, wherefore hast thou gone,

And left me in this dreary world alone?

Thy form is here indeed—a lovely one—

But thou art fled, gone down the dreary road,

That leads to Sorrow's most obscure abode;

Thou sittest on the hearth of pale despair,

Where

For thine own sake I cannot follow thee.

— Also “To Mary Shelley” by Percy Bysshe Shelley

Truth be told, these are my relationship goals

[notsecrethistory]

Finally, it’s time for late night studies in the library, oversized sweaters, persistent rain, lots of pumpkin spice latte and reciting “To Autumn” by John Keats while walking in the woods alone. I’m more than ready.

[blaxkpoetry]

English literature academia aesthetic appreciation post.

[thewingedchild]

—dormir plutôt que vivre

[eerin-deactivated-deactivated20]

look, if I could sit in a cafe drinking coffee and reading my books all day while completely ignoring my surroundings, I would.

[notsecrethistory]

Yes yes and YeS

[notsecrethistory]

Took this one in the Louvre last year✨

[notsecrethistory]

The dead are sleeping in their sepulchres:

And, mouldering as they sleep, a thrilling sound,

Half sense half thought, among the darkness stirs,

Breathed from their wormy beds all living things around,

And, mingling with the still night and mute sky,

Its awful hush is felt inaudibly.

Thus solemnized and softened, death is mild

And terrorless as this serenest night.

Here could I hope, like some enquiring child

Sporting on graves, that death did hide from human sight

Sweet secrets, or beside its breathless sleep

That loveliest dreams perpetual watch did keep.

— “A Summer Evening Churchyard” by Percy Bysshe Shelley

[notsecrethistory]

Aphrodite, subtle of soul and deathless,

Daughter of God, weaver of wiles, I pray thee

Neither with care, dread Mistress, nor with anguish,

            Slay thou my spirit!

— Sappho. Ode to Aphrodite

[galina]

I’ve said this before but: I love this kind of summer-autumn morning light. It is especially good on a Sunday morning when there’s nothing to do but drink coffee, read a good book, make plans or cancel them all to lie on the rug and listen to music and watch the dust in it. 

[localbookshop]