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Commentary on "The Fantome Fatale of Highgate"

This admirable work poses some knotty problems of interpretation. It is clear that the ‘Childe’ is being pursued through the gloomy catacombs and eerie avenues of Highgate Cemetery, but precisely who is the ‘darkly angel’ of ‘five feet and six’ and ‘cinnamon scent’ pursuing him? She is personified as ‘Blackness before him’ and a ‘Dark Witch’, intensifying the sense of literal as well as symbolic blackness. However one must question whether her intentions are wholly evil, for the ‘Childe’ is ‘her dream and her Grail / Brimming with the Forbidden Fruit’. He is rescued, though, by ‘the Lion’ and ‘the Bearer / Of fyre’ before she can enjoy his juicy flesh, leaving her only consolation but a ‘Yorkie bar’. Phew! Whatever the solution to this ripsnorter, I think I need to lie down now! (DJ).