Showing results by author "Charlotte Mew" in All Categories

The horror of the male experience during World War One was well documented in poetry, memoir, and fiction throughout the 20th century. Women's voices of despair, endurance and anger, however, have often been forgotten. These poems of political fury, widowed brides, industry undertaken, and sons and friends loved and lost, give a heartbreaking insight into the experience of women throughout World War One.

Charlotte Mary Mew was born on 15th November, 1869 in London to professional parents her father was responsible for the design of Hampstead Town Hall. Charlotte, one of seven children, three of whom died in early childhood, was educated at Lucy Harrison's School for Girls and attended lectures at University College, London.

During the Victorian era the publishing of magazines and periodicals accelerated at a phenomenal rate. This really was mass market publishing to a hungry audience eager for literary sustenance. Many of our greatest authors contributed and expanded their reach whilst many fledging authors also found a ready source for their nascent works and careers. Amongst the very many was ‘The Yellow Book’.

Charlotte Mew's poems explore a wide range of themes, including passionate discussions of faith and the possibility of belief in God and proto-modernism. Many of her poems are in the form of dramatic monologues, and she often wrote from the point of view of a male persona, allowing her to gain the patronage of several literary figures, notably Thomas Hardy, who called her the best woman poet of her day; Virginia Woolf, who said she was 'very good and quite unlike anyone else', and Siegfried Sassoon.

The art of writing a short story can be barely noticed by a reader or listener - such is the quality with which they are usually written. It is a difficult trade, an unforgiving discipline, but for those who master it, the rewards are many. In this series of works by our greatest female writers, we bring you a selection of those we consider the best.

With the talents on display the most difficult task is choosing only ten. Their virtuosity, their craft and ambition scare belie the difficulties that society places upon most women. Their words cannot be denied, their literary heritage is safe forever.