Mew, Charlotte Mary

(1869-1928)

   Born in London, the daughter of a prosperous architect, she was educated privately and later attended lectures at University College, London. Her poems often express the sorrow of her life, where several of her siblings died young or were hospitalized with mental illness. She and her sister Anne made a pact to remain childless so as not to transmit what they believed to be a genetic disorder. After her father died in 1898, the family lived in genteel poverty. When Anne was diagnosed with cancer in 1926, Charlotte nursed her until she died the next year. While hospitalized for minor surgery in 1928, Charlotte poisoned herself. Many of her poems, stories, essays, and studies were published in periodicals. She wrote around 60 poems and gained the patronage of several literary figures, among them Thomas Hardy and Siegfried Sassoon (see entries). Her poetry publications: The Farmer's Bride, 1915 (U.S. title, Saturday Market). The Rambling Sailor, 1929 (a collection of 32 previously uncollected poems). Some of her poems: "Afternoon Tea," "In Nunhead Cemetery," "Madeleine in Church," "My Heart is Lame," "On the Asylum Road," "To a Child in Death."

   Sources: Anthology of Twentieth-Century British and Irish Poetry. Keith Tuma, ed. Oxford University Press, 2001. Chloe Plus Olivia: An Anthology of Lesbian Literature from the Seventeenth Century to the Present. Lillian Faderman, ed. Viking Penguin, 1994. Collected Poems of Charlotte Mew. Gerald Duckworth and Co., 1953. Collected Poems and Selected Prose of Charlotte Mew. Val Warner, ed. Fyfield Books, 2003. Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. Encyclopædia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite DVD, 2006. Salt and Bitter and Good: Three Centuries of English and American Women Poets. Cora Kaplan, ed. Paddington Press, 1975. The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org). The Faber Book of 20th Century Women's Poetry. Fleur Adcock, ed. Faber and Faber, 1987. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 6th edition. Margaret Drabble, ed. Oxford University Press, 2000.