Mary Shelley's language here is resonant with the terms by which she describes the
educational milieu within the Frankenstein circle. Thus, it cannot be accidental that
she draws an implicit comparison between her own youthful career as a writer and that
of her most imaginative character, Henry Clerval, who is described as smitten with
a world of romance in both the 1818 (I:1:11) and 1831 (I:2:2) editions of the novel.