Charlotte Mew as a Tragic Poet

This chapter responds to the tragic intensity of Charlotte Mew’s writing. It considers the relationship between the muted unhappiness of her life and the extravagance of her literary style. Through readings of a series of poems, including ‘In Nunhead Cemetry,’ ‘Ken,’ ‘The Fête,’ and ‘Madeleine in Church,’ it shows how Mew discovered in the dramatic monologue a form in which to observe, with a mixture of compassion and restraint, the suffering and loneliness that distort the lives of her characters.