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This Heartbreaking 1888 Mermaid Poem Explores Child Death in the Most Haunting Way

Violet Fane's Poem Proves Speculative Poetry Was Feminist From the Beginning

One of my niche obsessions is speculative poetry, and more particularly, its rich history in science fiction and fantasy pulp magazines. While most people have probably read some of the more well-known authors of the “golden age” of science fiction, like Isaac Asimov or H.P. Lovecraft, few people know that this history goes back even further to the 1800s in Victorian England.

As part of my work on the Speculative Poetry Initiative (SPI), which aims to get a permanent speculative poetry Hugo Award, I’m researching the history of speculative poetry so that I can prove that speculative poetry has been a huge part of the landscape of SFFH from the beginning.

This week, I stumbled upon an early speculative poem that broke my heart.

“The Mer-Baby” by Violet Fane (penname of poet Mary Montgomerie Currie) was first published in 1888 in the proto-feminist publication, Woman’s World, edited by Oscar Wilde. Like most published women of the time, Fane came from the upper class and was the granddaughter of a Baronet (a rank just below Baron), and was married to a landowner and later a British ambassador. Fane was kind of a literary celebrity of her time, often holding soirées at her home in London. One male author referred to her as “something like a living poem for a certain group of friends,” while another called her a “sort of fashionable London Sappho” (LEDBETTER, KATHRYN. “Time and the Poetess: Violet Fane and ‘Fin-de-Siècle’ Poetry in Periodicals.” Victorian Poetry 52, no. 1 (2014): 141–59.)

Woman’s World is an important piece of feminist history. It was edited by Oscar Wilde, who took over editorship in 1887. He felt the magazine was “too feminine” and needed to examine not just women’s interests (chiefly, fashion) but “what they think, and what they feel.” Under Wilde’s direction, the magazine covered topics like higher education for women, the political status of women, “scientific” theories about gender and sex, and topics about gender in marriage. Wilde also changed the magazine’s cover image, which was previously the common Victorian image of a woman as a goddess, high on a pedestal, gazing at herself in the mirror. The new cover featured the contributor’s names at the center: full names and not married names (“Oscar Wilde and The Woman’s World: An Overview” by Petra Dierkes-Thrun). 

Magazines like Woman’s World regularly published speculative poetry. They ranged on a wide variety of topics, but the fiction and poetry magazines often focused on speculative topics that were somewhat scandalous or “low-brow,” like death and murder, pirates and adventure. The term “pulp” fiction comes from the “pulp” magazines, so called because the paper was made of cheap wood pulp. Some scholars refer to Argosy (1896) as the first pulp, but their history can be traced farther back to the “chapbooks” of the early 1800s, which often published folktales, ballads, nursery rhymes, children’s literature, and poetry. Chapbooks were often anonymous and meant for public consumption, so they often could cover more taboo topics.

The artwork that inspired Fane’s poem was by Dorothy Tennant. The artwork, shown at the Dudley Gallery for the first time in 1879, was described as “odd” or “queer”. Tennant often used street children as models, and “Mer-baby” was included in her book of illustrations depicting unhoused children, not always in such sad conditions but also at play or with their families. Like Oliver Twist, these depictions of real-life conditions for children were often meant to instill sympathy and were seen as a form of advocacy.

In Mer-baby, Tennant has painted the children nude (they are playing at the beach), in the style of the classical cherub, and they are struck by the dead child in their midst. Fane’s poem takes the image one step further. It tells the story of the dead mer-baby, found by two passing human children who tell their mother of the body. The mother then, in an act of compassion, buries the baby “near where her little daughters slept”.

Conditions for pregnant women in the 1880s were deplorable, and it was common to have more than one dead child. The mother in the poem has two—and now three, the orphan mer-baby she adopts after its death, laying it to rest, hoping that the mer-people might do the same if one of her family should die at sea (here, the father is the potenial victim—perhaps he is to be interpreted as a sailor). Infant mortality rates were high, with estimates ranging from twenty to fifty percent. The mother feels empathy for the mer-mother, and treats the dead child as one of her own.

So while the illustration hints at the plight of children in Victorian London, the poem goes one step further and dives into the terror and grief of motherhood in a world with very few resources for women. Both Tennant, the artist, and Fane, the poet, are writing from worlds of privilege, but they seem to be attempting to use that privilege to create change.

As mermaid poems go, this one has all of the common tropes of today’s contemporary speculative poetry. It hints at a haunting underworld realm, but also strikes at the trope that merpeople can’t survive above water. Mermaids are a common metaphor for the “other” in today’s contemporary speculative poetry.

For me, Fane’s “The Mer-Baby” is a particularly important piece of speculative poetry history. It establishes that women were writing about political topics even before science fiction and fantasy became a genre (as we know it).

I’m reminded of the poem “The Little Mermaid” by Jasmine Mans, from the book Black Girl, Call Home, which uses the mermaid genre elements to explore race:

When they tell
the Black girl
she can't play mermaid,
ask them,
what their people know
about holding their breath
underwater.

Similarly, the book We Are Mermaids by Stephanie Burt explores the metaphors of the mermaid through the lens of transness (excerpt below).

Not only has speculative poetry always been a part of the landscape, but it has also always pushed boundaries. It has always been “queer”—complicated on more than one level. It has always been political.

If you want to learn more about the Speculative Poetry Initiative, visit our website:

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Upcoming Workshops from Your Host with the Most Writing Prompts, Holly Lyn Walrath

National Flash Fiction Month: 30 Short Stories in 30 Days 
DATE: 4 Weeks Starting July 1st, 2025
TIME: Asynchronous, Self-Paced via Writing Workshops
Price: $299

This generative workshop is chock full of 30 writing prompts for short story writers. Whether you write micro fiction, flash fiction, or short stories, these 30 prompts are meant to inspire and support you in this unique writing challenge. You've heard of NaPoWriMo (National Poetry Writing Month), where poets write 30 poems in 30 days, and you've probably heard of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), where writers try to write a novel in a month. Now, you can do the same with short stories. Whether you're writing to a specific theme, assembling stories for a collection, or want to try writing a series of connected stories, this workshop will explore new contemporary structures like The Tryptich or The Wikipedia Entry. Open to writers of all genres--from realism to memoir to speculative fiction. Please note: This class has sold out every time I have offered it. I suggest you register early!

Writing Poetry from the Shadows
DATE: 4 Weeks Starting October 6th, 2025
TIME: Asynchronous, Self-Paced via The Poetry Barn

Since Edgar Allen Poe wrote “Nevermore!” Poetry has played with the elements of horror. Horror poetry is a recognized form, and each year, the Horror Writer’s Association awards the Bram Stoker Award for best dark poetry book. From monsters to ghosts to fairy tales, darkness can be a powerful metaphor to explore trauma, gender, sexuality, and grief. In this workshop, we’ll dive into the shadows and write dark, personal poems using speculative tropes.

Tickets on sale soon, check back!

DATE: 4 Weeks Starting September 9th, 2025
TIME: Asynchronous, Self-Paced via Writing Workshops
Price: $299

​Publishing survives on the work of editors. If you’ve ever considered becoming a freelance editor, this workshop will give you the tools needed to get your business started. Learn about the different types of editing, how to structure your editing business, and what resources exist for freelance editors. A nitty-gritty, in-depth guide to becoming a guide for writers.

Confessional Poetry
DATE: 4 Weeks Starting December 1st, 2025
TIME: Asynchronous via The Poetry Barn

Where does the line between poet and poem blur? The poetry of Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, Robert Lowell, Randall Jarrell, and Elizabeth Bishop in the 60s, 70s, and 80s became iconic for its controversial use of the “confessional voice.” This genre has arguably shaped contemporary poetry today. In this workshop, we’ll explore what it means to write a confessional poem, but also, how poets can harness personal experience to reach an ideal reader. This workshop juxtaposes classical confessional poetry with contemporary poets who have harnessed the power of trauma to make the private public. Break down barriers, write with authenticity, and embrace the catharsis of confession.

Self-Paced Workshops (Sign Up Anytime!)

Self-Paced Course: 30 Poems In 30 Days
DATE: Ongoing
TIME: Asynchronous, Self-paced via Poetry Barn
PRICE: $149
This class came out of NaPoWriMo (National Poetry Writing Month), which happens every year in April. Similarly, the goal of this self-paced class is to write 30 poems in 30 days. However, you might write one poem a day, or several poems in a day, and then give yourself a break. It’s totally up to you! Whether you’re writing to a specific theme, assembling a group of poems for a chapbook, or you want to try writing a longer poetic sequence, this workshop is meant to support you with generative prompts and experiences to get you creating plenty of new work.

Self-Paced Course: Journaling for Poets
DATE: Ongoing
TIME: Asynchronous, Self-paced via Poetry Barn
PRICE: $99
Poets are observers. One way to keep track of your observations and ideas is through a writing journal. In this workshop, we'll cover the basics of journaling for poets, not just as a method of processing and keeping track of your thoughts, but as a method of improving your writing life and working towards a career as a writer.  In this workshop, you'll cover how to manage large ideas or projects, track submissions, create goals, revising, and more, all while exploring popular methods of journaling to find the one that works for you. If you feel out of sorts or disorganized in your writing life, this workshop is for you!

Self-Paced Course: Queer Poetics
DATE: Ongoing
​TIME: Asynchronous, Self-paced via Poetry Barn
​PRICE: $99
This workshop is an intersectional primer on LGBTQIA+ writers throughout the history of poetry. We’ll explore poets like Walt Whitman, Adrienne Rich, Allen Ginsberg, and Audre Lorde, but also the contemporary queer poets who have catapulted into the mainstream like Jericho Brown and Danez Smith. We’ll write poems alongside and inspired by the voices of queer poetics. This class is meant both for writers who want to explore their queerness and for writers who want to learn more about the history of queer poetry.

Self-Paced Course: Writing Resistance Through Erasure, Found Text & Visual Poetry
DATE: Ongoing
TIME: Asynchronous, Self-paced via Poetry Barn
PRICE: $99
Hybrid poetry forms can be a powerful form of resistance. From Jerrod Schwarz’s erasure of Trump’s inaugural speech to Niina Pollari’s black outs of the N-400 citizenship form, contemporary poets are engaging with the world through text, creating new and challenging works of art. Heralded by the rise of the “Instapoet,” visual works are a way to take poetry one step further by crafting new forms and structures that often transcend the page.

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