Discovery and the Domestic Affections in Coleridge and Shelley

Both "The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere" and Frankenstein self-consciously reflect on the power of narratives of the unknown and the unexplored, paying particular attention to the way these stories inspire imitation, whether in the physical world or on the page. Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem and Mary Shelley's novel exhibit a tension between their attraction to stories of the unknown and their repulsion by the effects of unbridled exploration. This essay examines their shared reliance on the domestic affections as the primary tool for restraining the pursuit of new worlds.