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| Templar Poetry |
Charlotte Mew: Between the Dome and the Stars
Jane Weir
Jane Weir
Charlotte Mew was born in London in 1869, the eldest of four children. She
grew up in an upper middle class Victorian family, attending Lucy Harrison's
School for Girls in Gower Street and lectures at University College, London.
At the age of twenty-nine her father, an architect, died leaving the family in
much reduced circumstances. Charlotte remained living in Bloomsbury with
her mother and sister Anne.
Charlotte Mew wrote stories, essays, a play, The China Bowl, and poetry. Her
stories were published in The Yellow Book and other journals including
Temple Bar, The Egoist, The English Woman and The Nation.
Harold Monro at The Poetry Bookshop discovered her work and published
two books of her verse, The Farmers Bride (1915) and The Rambling Sailor
(1929). Charlotte Mew was a friend of the novelist May Sinclair, she was
highly admired by many important literary figures of her period including
Virginia Woolf, Siegfried Sassoon, Thomas Hardy, Walter de la Mare and
John Masefield.
In 1923 she was awarded a Civil List pension, however in this same year her
mother died, followed by her sister Anne in 1927. Charlotte despondent and
depressed entered a London nursing home where she committed suicide by
drinking a bottle of Lysol in 1928 at the age of forty-nine.
In this short monograph Jane Weir discusses the role that live performance
played in the transmission and reception of Charlotte Mew's work.
grew up in an upper middle class Victorian family, attending Lucy Harrison's
School for Girls in Gower Street and lectures at University College, London.
At the age of twenty-nine her father, an architect, died leaving the family in
much reduced circumstances. Charlotte remained living in Bloomsbury with
her mother and sister Anne.
Charlotte Mew wrote stories, essays, a play, The China Bowl, and poetry. Her
stories were published in The Yellow Book and other journals including
Temple Bar, The Egoist, The English Woman and The Nation.
Harold Monro at The Poetry Bookshop discovered her work and published
two books of her verse, The Farmers Bride (1915) and The Rambling Sailor
(1929). Charlotte Mew was a friend of the novelist May Sinclair, she was
highly admired by many important literary figures of her period including
Virginia Woolf, Siegfried Sassoon, Thomas Hardy, Walter de la Mare and
John Masefield.
In 1923 she was awarded a Civil List pension, however in this same year her
mother died, followed by her sister Anne in 1927. Charlotte despondent and
depressed entered a London nursing home where she committed suicide by
drinking a bottle of Lysol in 1928 at the age of forty-nine.
In this short monograph Jane Weir discusses the role that live performance
played in the transmission and reception of Charlotte Mew's work.
ISBN-13 978-1-906285-18-0
PB £4.50
PUBLICATION OCTOBER 2007 - available for preorder