On
this date in 1816, two authors married. Percy Bysshe Shelley was the
Romantic poet who would later write Ozymandias, and Mary
Wollstonecraft Godwin was the author who would later write the gothic
novel Frankenstein. (At that point her name was Mary
Shelley.)
It's
always interesting when two famous or well-accomplished people marry.
In the past such power-couple marriages were rare because women were
so strongly encouraged to stay home and to focus on family matters;
also, women often lacked educational opportunities.
From
Queen Victoria and Prince Albert to Bill and Hilary Clinton, from
Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton to Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie,
power couples can achieve great things together or support each other
as they achieve great things separately. Power couples often stay
together for years or decades, but they often break up suddenly and
publicly as well.
The
hubris of humankind
The
word hubris means excessive pride—that is, too darned much
pride. Both of the Shelleys dealt with hubris in their works I am
featuring here.
Ozymandias
is a short poem about a mighty king who thought he would make a
giant, lasting imprint on history...Read it here, or listen to
it over here.
It
is hubris to assume that, no matter how much you matter to yourself,
you will matter to everybody, for all time.
Also
on this date:
