{"id":2717,"date":"2026-07-08T15:08:35","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T19:08:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/bdpcblackoutproject\/?p=2717"},"modified":"2026-07-20T17:34:36","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T21:34:36","slug":"before-i-allowed-myself-to","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/bdpcblackoutproject\/before-i-allowed-myself-to\/","title":{"rendered":"before I allowed myself to"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1535\" height=\"2460\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/bdpcblackoutproject\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1055\/2026\/07\/22before-I-allowed-myself.22-1.jpg\" alt=\"This image shows a blackout poetry piece created on page 136 of Mary Shelley\u2019s \u201cFrankenstein\u201d. The text is predominantly obscured by a large drawing of an owl in graphite pencil, black pen, and yellow colored pencil. Select words and phrases have been left legible, underlined in pen, and highlighted with yellow marker, creating and emphasizing a new poetic message against the drawn-over background.\" class=\"wp-image-2718\" style=\"width:687px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/bdpcblackoutproject\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1055\/2026\/07\/22before-I-allowed-myself.22-1.jpg 1535w, https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/bdpcblackoutproject\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1055\/2026\/07\/22before-I-allowed-myself.22-1-187x300.jpg 187w, https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/bdpcblackoutproject\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1055\/2026\/07\/22before-I-allowed-myself.22-1-639x1024.jpg 639w, https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/bdpcblackoutproject\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1055\/2026\/07\/22before-I-allowed-myself.22-1-768x1231.jpg 768w, https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/bdpcblackoutproject\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1055\/2026\/07\/22before-I-allowed-myself.22-1-958x1536.jpg 958w, https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/bdpcblackoutproject\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1055\/2026\/07\/22before-I-allowed-myself.22-1-1278x2048.jpg 1278w, https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/bdpcblackoutproject\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1055\/2026\/07\/22before-I-allowed-myself.22-1-940x1506.jpg 940w, https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/bdpcblackoutproject\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1055\/2026\/07\/22before-I-allowed-myself.22-1-400x641.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1535px) 100vw, 1535px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>By Lisa Sankowski<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">before I allowed myself to<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">enter into<br>knowledge<br>to<br>desire intelligence<br>, I had a<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">fear<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">that I should lose<br>all self-command<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Once com-<br>menced, I might be<br>the monster<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">for ever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">excited<br>earnest<br>melancholy, mad<br>capable<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">entirely myself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">left to my own<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">solitude<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Lisa Sankowski before I allowed myself to enter intoknowledgetodesire intelligence, I had a fear that I should loseall self-command Once com-menced, I might bethe monster for ever. excitedearnestmelancholy, madcapable entirely myself. left to my own solitude<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8216,"featured_media":2716,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-monstermash"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/bdpcblackoutproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/bdpcblackoutproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/bdpcblackoutproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/bdpcblackoutproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8216"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/bdpcblackoutproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2717"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/bdpcblackoutproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2717\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3160,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/bdpcblackoutproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2717\/revisions\/3160"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/bdpcblackoutproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/bdpcblackoutproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/bdpcblackoutproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/bdpcblackoutproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}