The Fairy Of The Fountains Comments

The is a self-referencing poem. Placed at the end of Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book,1835, it represents the serpent's tail that at once belongs to Melusine and to Landon herself. Such symbolism is typical of her thinking. Here she exposes her 'raw bare powers'.

Interestingly, female creative genius has come full circle here: from Die Saalnixe (La Motte-Fouqué) to Corinne (Mdme de Staël) to The Improvisatrice, and now Melusine.

Melusine represents the female Romantic poet and Landon here seems to anticipate her own fate - being cast into exile after death. Heroic status here becomes a punishment and this poem counters any assumption that when men write of women, that is heroic, and when women write of women, that is not.

There is so much that can be said about this magnificently powerful poem. Perhaps though, I should start with those little typos - we for ever! We, we, parted us for ever! ! I think, right from the beginning one can see that we are talking of wo! Landon has one wondering right from the first line - not a typo; why did she love her mother's so? This is deliberate - she was the editor and she knew what she was doing.