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The Wind

​The poem ‘The Wind’ is today popularly attributed to Letitia Landon, although it is not included authoritatively in her list of works. It was originally signed ‘O.’ but, by the late 1820s, it was being republished under the name ‘The Improvisatrice’, namely Letitia Landon. The pseudonym ‘L. E. L.’ was her own property.

F. J. Sypher reports that Miss Landon submitted poems to The New Monthly prior to that first published under L. E. L. (namely, Antony and Cleopatra in 1825), so it is possible that ‘The Wind’ is one such. It does seem strange for such a poem to be the sole production of another poet.

The theme of a ship lost at sea is one that Miss Landon used a number of times and the style is at least compatible with her work, so, although the case remains unproven, I feel it right to record the poem here.