--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: It proved a wet, ungenial summer,” the…" description: "\"“It proved a wet, ungenial summer,” the future Mary Shelley wrote, “and incessant rain often confined us for days to the house.” To entertain themselve..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b7c/greg-breining-84954_frankenstein_it-proved-a-wet-ungenial-summer-the-futu_2880141.jpg" --- # It proved a wet, ungenial summer,” the future Mary Shelley… ![“It proved a wet, ungenial summer,” the future Mary Shelley wrote, “and incessant rain often confined us for days to the house.” To entertain themselves, they wrote ghost stories. Mary Shelley’s would become Frankenstein.” quote by Greg Breining](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b7c/greg-breining-84954_frankenstein_it-proved-a-wet-ungenial-summer-the-futu_2880141.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b7c/greg-breining-84954_frankenstein_it-proved-a-wet-ungenial-summer-the-futu_2880141.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b7c/greg-breining-84954_frankenstein_it-proved-a-wet-ungenial-summer-the-futu_2880141.jpg) > ““It proved a wet, ungenial summer,” the future Mary Shelley wrote, “and incessant rain often confined us for days to the house.” To entertain themselves, they wrote ghost stories. Mary Shelley’s would become Frankenstein.”” [Greg Breining](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/greg-breining/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Shelley describes a rainy, oppressive summer that inspired ghost stories, foreshadowing her creation of Frankenstein. **In simple terms:** Rainy summer led to writing spooky tales. Key Takeaway Environment can spark creative imagination. Themes creativity inspiration literature Mood thoughtful moody Type literary historical When to use this quote - Writing retreats - stormy weather - creative brainstorming Key Concepts Atmosphere gothic imagination Questions to Reflect On - How does your environment influence your work? - Can you create inspiration deliberately? A Different Perspective Creative bursts may be tied to mood, limiting consistency. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Frankenstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/frankenstein/) [Ghost stories](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ghost-stories/) [Mary Shelley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mary-shelley/) [Shelley Frankenstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/shelley-frankenstein-2070941/) [Shelley Wrote](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/shelley-wrote-3986596/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) [Wrote Ghost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wrote-ghost-3986597/) ## Related quotes > [ One of the things in the Mary Shelley \[Frankenstein\] is that the creature tells his story, so this begins with the creature's point of… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/danny-boyle/one-of-the-things-in-the-mary-shelley-frankenstein-is-that-the/) [Danny Boyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/danny-boyle/) > [I've always loved Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. There's this wonderful chapter in which we get a first-person account of the monster's first impressions of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mordicai-gerstein/i-ve-always-loved-mary-shelley-s-frankenstein-there-s-this-wonderful/) [Mordicai Gerstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mordicai-gerstein/) > [One futuristic novel that had a huge impact on me was Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein,' which is kind of science fiction plus Gothic.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jennifer-egan/one-futuristic-novel-that-had-a-huge-impact-on-me-was-mary-shelley-s/) [Jennifer Egan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jennifer-egan/) > [“I desire the company of a man who could sympathize with me, whose eyes would reply to mine... gentle yet courageous, possessed, has a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-boyle/i-desire-the-company-of-a-man-who-could-sympathize-with-me-whose-eyes/) [David Boyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-boyle/) > [“Had Mary Shelley fretted so? Maybe yes, maybe no. She’d begun her classic work on a dare. Had culled a dream to bring it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/l-l-barkat/had-mary-shelley-fretted-so-maybe-yes-maybe-no-she-d-begun-her/) [L.L. Barkat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/l-l-barkat/) > [“Somewhere in all this, it was thought, there also resided a mysterious élan vital, the force that brought inanimate objects to life. No-one knew…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-bryson/somewhere-in-all-this-it-was-thought-there-also-resided-a-mysterious/) [Bill Bryson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-bryson/) > [“When you arrive in the afterlife, you find that Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley sits on a throne. She is cared for and protected by a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-eagleman/when-you-arrive-in-the-afterlife-you-find-that-mary-wollstonecraft/) [David Eagleman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-eagleman/) > [“When Mary Shelley took a local legend based on truth and crafted fiction from it, she'd made Victor a tragic figure and killed him…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dean-koontz/when-mary-shelley-took-a-local-legend-based-on-truth-and-crafted/) [Dean Koontz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dean-koontz/) > [The greatest feminists have also been the greatest lovers. I'm thinking not only of Mary Wollstonecraft and her daughter Mary Shelley, but of Anais…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erica-jong/the-greatest-feminists-have-also-been-the-greatest-lovers-i-m/) [Erica Jong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erica-jong/) > [“In fact, there was an ancient bearded guy in the corner who looked like he'd probably palled around with Mary Shelley.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rachel-hawkins/in-fact-there-was-an-ancient-bearded-guy-in-the-corner-who-looked/) [Rachel Hawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rachel-hawkins/) > [Networks like Adult Swim allow artists to be artists and allow their vision to come through without a lot of tinkering. I worked on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/scott-adsit/networks-like-adult-swim-allow-artists-to-be-artists-and-allow-their/) [Scott Adsit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/scott-adsit/) > [It seems all "protection" has to be monitored, considered, weighed and justified - I am suggesting we do that (but it's something Mary Shelley…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-mullen/it-seems-all-protection-has-to-be-monitored-considered-weighed-and/) [Laura Mullen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-mullen/) > [“And do you know the oddest thing about murder and war and violence?” “Oh, Mary Shelley, please stop talking about those types of things.”…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cat-winters/and-do-you-know-the-oddest-thing-about-murder-and-war-and-violence-oh/) [Cat Winters](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cat-winters/) > [Nico was gothic, but she was Mary Shelley gothic to everyone else's Hammer horror film gothic. They both did Frankenstein, but Nico's was real.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-murphy/nico-was-gothic-but-she-was-mary-shelley-gothic-to-everyone-else-s/) [Peter Murphy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-murphy/) > [The ghost story movie that scared me the most was The Changeling with George C. Scott. I think that's sometimes overlooked, but it's a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-king/the-ghost-story-movie-that-scared-me-the-most-was-the-changeling-with/) [Stephen King](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-king/) ## More by Greg Breining > [“The Deccan Traps volcanoes spilled as much as a half million cubic miles of basalt over an area equal to half of present-day India.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/greg-breining/the-deccan-traps-volcanoes-spilled-as-much-as-a-half-million-cubic/) [Greg Breining](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/greg-breining/) > [“The effects could be sufficiently severe to threaten the fabric of civilisation.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/greg-breining/the-effects-could-be-sufficiently-severe-to-threaten-the-fabric-of/) [Greg Breining](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/greg-breining/) [Explore all 3 Greg Breining quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/greg-breining/) ## More Frankenstein quotes > [“Increase of knowledge only discovered to me more clearly what a wretched outcast I was. —The Monster, Frankenstein”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/suzanne-enoch/increase-of-knowledge-only-discovered-to-me-more-clearly-what-a/) [Suzanne Enoch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/suzanne-enoch/) > [My favorite novel in the world is Frankenstein. 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Its fantasy moves closer to fact, its horrors closer to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jed-mercurio/frankenstein-is-a-timeless-classic-as-science-advances-it-becomes/) [Jed Mercurio](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jed-mercurio/) > [I like - it's not that I want to be someone different from me, but I suppose it partly is that. I love creating…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gene-wilder/i-like-it-s-not-that-i-want-to-be-someone-different-from-me-but-i/) [Gene Wilder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gene-wilder/) > [“Had Mary Shelley fretted so? Maybe yes, maybe no. She’d begun her classic work on a dare. Had culled a dream to bring it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/l-l-barkat/had-mary-shelley-fretted-so-maybe-yes-maybe-no-she-d-begun-her/) [L.L. Barkat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/l-l-barkat/) > [I saw 'Dracula,' 'Frankenstein,' 'The Wolf Man,' 'The Invisible Man.' I saw all those guys on the big screen at RKO in the Bronx.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-a-romero/i-saw-dracula-frankenstein-the-wolf-man-the-invisible-man-i-saw-all/) [George A. Romero](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-a-romero/) > [ One of the things in the Mary Shelley \[Frankenstein\] is that the creature tells his story, so this begins with the creature's point of… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/danny-boyle/one-of-the-things-in-the-mary-shelley-frankenstein-is-that-the/) [Danny Boyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/danny-boyle/) > [Listen to me, Frankenstein. You accuse me of murder; and yet you would, with a satisfied conscience, destroy your own creature. Oh, praise the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/listen-to-me-frankenstein-you-accuse-me-of-murder-and-yet-you-would/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“...As a child he had gone out for Halloween as a mummy, a vampire, a blue-and-green-swolen drowned boy, all kinds of sufferings and mutilations…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-t-vollmann/as-a-child-he-had-gone-out-for-halloween-as-a-mummy-a-vampire-a-blue/) [William T. Vollmann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-t-vollmann/) > [“He pushed a finger through the surface of the water to trace the outline of her mouth. Ethereal bits of flesh floated loosely about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/p-j-parker/he-pushed-a-finger-through-the-surface-of-the-water-to-trace-the/) [P.J. Parker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/p-j-parker/) > [Future historians will surely see us as having created in the media a Frankenstein monster whom no one knows how to control ordirect, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-muggeridge/future-historians-will-surely-see-us-as-having-created-in-the-media-a/) [Malcolm Muggeridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-muggeridge/) > [When I did 'Frankenstein,' the record company said, 'Now you can do 'Dracula' and 'Wolf Man' and we'll call the whole thing Monster Rock!'…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edgar-winter/when-i-did-frankenstein-the-record-company-said-now-you-can-do/) [Edgar Winter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edgar-winter/) [Browse all 140 Frankenstein quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/frankenstein/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“It proved a wet, ungenial summer,” the future Mary Shelley wrote, “and incessant rain often confined us for days to the house.” To entertain themselves, they wrote ghost stories. 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