Charlotte Mew

-
Charlotte Mew is best known and regarded as an early twentieth century poet, though she also published a few short stories and essays. Her poems, often dramatic monologues, are haunted by unrequited love, the renunciation of passion, and death. Subtle experiment with form and metre is discernible in their unusually long lines, the frequent use of monosyllables, mixed metres, and repeated, irregular rhymes. CM 's work was admired by several poets of her day, notably Thomas Hardy , with whom she shares an affinity for harsh rural settings and socially isolated characters. Despite the enthusiasm of both initial and recent critics, her poetic achievements remain under-recognised.

Milestones

15 November 1869

Charlotte Mew was born at 10 Doughty Street, Mecklenburgh Square, in Bloomsbury, London.
Mew, Charlotte. “Introduction”. Collected Poems and Prose, edited by Val Warner, Carcanet and Virago, p. ix - xxii.
ix
Fitzgerald, Penelope. Charlotte Mew and Her Friends. Collins, p. 240 pp.
16

3 February 1912

CM 's best-known poem, The Farmer's Bride, was published in the Nation.
Stanford, Donald E., editor. Dictionary of Literary Biography 19. Gale Research.
310

24 March 1928

CM died after drinking half a bottle of the disinfectant lysol.
Fitzgerald, Penelope. Charlotte Mew and Her Friends. Collins, p. 240 pp.
214

Biography

Birth and Influences

15 November 1869

Charlotte Mew was born at 10 Doughty Street, Mecklenburgh Square, in Bloomsbury, London.
Mew, Charlotte. “Introduction”. Collected Poems and Prose, edited by Val Warner, Carcanet and Virago, p. ix - xxii.
ix
Fitzgerald, Penelope. Charlotte Mew and Her Friends. Collins, p. 240 pp.
16