Equivocal Address in the Poems of Charlotte Mew

When discussing lyric address in the poems of Charlotte Mew, critics have tended to be strikingly definite as regards the identities of those speaking and being spoken to. Mew’s poems themselves, however, frequently refuse to signify identity in a way that is singular or definitive. While second-person address is a common feature of many lyric poems, Mew’s frequent adoption of personae, combined with her tendency towards the opaque and obscure, and the uncertainty surrounding our current knowledge of her own sexuality, all raise questions about the assumptions we make regarding the identities of speaker and addressee in her work, as well as who we as readers might identify with. This chapter examines the function of address in the poems ‘On the Road to the Sea,’ ‘The Pedlar,’ and ‘Ken,’ alongside the changes that are wrought on Mew’s work, and specifically our perception of her speakers and addressees, through live performance. Through consideration of Mew’s engagement with ambiguous gender-profiling, shifting presence, uncertain power dynamics, and imagined identification, the chapter explores the ways in which the equivocality of address in Mew’s writing both complicates and informs interpretations of her texts.