• without being able as yet to understand or apply them

    That the Creature has as yet no notion of how words that define feelings can be applied
    suggests that the next stage of his education must be metaphysical, involving an understanding
    of the self and an exploration of self-consciousness. For him this will necessarily
    entail what Byron called "Consciousness awaking to her woes" (Childe Harold's Pilgrimage
    1.941: st. 92).