From A Window : Charlotte Mew : : June Poems : : Months Poems : :

**Charlotte Mew : Grainy Black and white Portrait : : ( 1869 – )** British writer Charlotte Mew was born in London in 1869 into a family of seven children; she was the eldest daughter. While she was still a child, three of her brothers died. Later, another brother and then a sister were committed to psychiatric hospitals, where they would spend the rest of their lives. That left only Charlotte and her sister Anne, both of whom did not choose to have children, partly in hopes of avoiding passing these traits on to any potential children. The traumatic issues Mew grappled with during her childhood—death, mental illness, loneliness, and disillusionment—became themes in her poetry and stories. : : Mew published her first work when she was in her mid- 20s. Although today she is best remembered for her poetry, she also wrote a number of short stories, including this first published work titled “Passed,” which appeared in the new journal Yellow Book, in 1894. : : she would gain her first real attention with the publication of a poem, “The Farmer’s Bride,” in the Nation in 1912. : : Mew was introduced into the world of literary community of London. Wilfred Owen, Robert Frost and Ezra Pound were familiar faces. In the famous ‘Poetry bookshop’ run in Devonshire Street in Bloomsbury, London , by proprietor & Publisher, Harold Munro who would publish Mew’s books during his time. Her Most notable are the poems “Madeleine in Church” and “The Fete,” published in the Egoist in 1914. Mew’s first collection of poetry titled The Farmer’s Bride ( 1916 ) won Mew praise most notably from Siegfried Sassoon, Sara Teasdale, Ezra Pound, Thomas Hardy, and Virginia Woolf who called Mew “the greatest living poetess.” : : In 1926, Anne was diagnosed with cancer and Charlotte took on duties of nursing her sister nearly full time. Mew gradually sank into despair after death of Anne. Becoming delusional, she entered a nursing home in 1928 for treatment, where she died by suicide later the same year. “The Rambling Sailor” in 1929 brings together her early work with her more mature and successful poetry from the teens and twenties.Humbert Wolfe wrote in ‘Observer’, “She has no tricks or graces. She is completely mistress of her instrument, but she does not use it for any but the most austere purpose. … All that she wrote had its quality of depth and stillness. No English poet had less pretensions, and few as genuine a claim to be in touch with the source of poetry.” There has been a renewed interest in Mew’s prose and poetry and a re-evaluation of her contribution to literature. In 2021 a new biography of Charlotte Mew, This Rare Spirit by Julia Copus, was released and it seems that Charlotte Mew is belatedly having her moment in the spotlight with her distinct voice which once was eclipsed by Big name of T S Eliot of her time ( Active from 1889 – 1928 ) : : the meanings associated with the different colours of the Pride flag: red for ‘life’, orange for ‘healing’, yellow for ‘sunlight’, green for ‘nature’, blue for ‘art’, violet for ‘spirit’. **Today’s choice for ‘nature’ is ‘From a Window’ by Charlotte Mew.**

From a Window
BY CHARLOTTE MEW
Up here, with June, the sycamore throws
Across the window a whispering screen;
I shall miss the sycamore more, I suppose,
Than anything else on this earth that is out in green.
But I mean to go through the door without fear,
Not caring much what happens here
When I’m away:—
How green the screen is across the panes
Or who goes laughing along the lanes
With my old lover all summer day.
— Charlotte Mew

“From A Window , “up here, with June” , A “whispering screen” : her own paradigm to see in to her self through an outside world of Nature; is A June Poem By Charlotte Mew which is About her vision of death at the spread and extension of Green Tree of June / summer : : The sycamore ( plane tree(s) also like Eurasian Great Mapple, African / Asiatic Mulberry Fig/ Also Biblical Sycamore – thick , buttressed with branches raised from near the ground, cluster of edible but inferior figs on short leafless twigs ) : :As seen From a Window by Charlotte Mew, while she has mulled over her own mortal state of existence, she supposes that she will miss this Sycamore more. . . Yet, Her own connotations as suggested in the poem is, “I mean to go through the door without fear, / Not caring much what happens here / When I am away .” : : She is contemplating not just viewing the fenestral display of Green Nature or leaving the house , but also ‘demise’ and ‘departure’ from her living , by ‘death’. She is pondering over the “Green screen with “Sycamore” tree “across the pane” of the glass panelling , fixed on her walled existence , yet in full use of watching the outside World. In this way, she is filling her worldview completely, alongside her heartfelt “whispering”, in a soft murmuring voice, perhaps from her memory which is also her emotional strength. : : : :

Her thoughts on her going “away without fear” or “caring”, that is ‘departure’ or ‘demise’ should involve the timing checks and such measures to control. Yet she would not wish to control with any restricting measures from her side as she is ready for her departure from the scene. Care is a cause of feeling for concern and anxiousness. Yet , she has said, “I mean to go through the door without fear,
Not caring much what happens here
When I’m away:—” : : : : : : : : : Should anyone feel for any thoughtful sadness !? Especially , when she says in the next line, “How green the screen is across the panes” : “A whispering screen .. . Sycamore’s Green” has thrown out.. . ! ? It appears, she wants to throw herself along all memories and with full energy to go forward. : : Yes, there is one more memory that emerges and she merely mentions in last two lines , saying,” Or who goes laughing along the lanes
With my old lover all summer day. ” : : : : Her previous lover is laughing along the lanes. : : : : Do you want to believe , dear reader , if this “lover along the lanes” would successfully deride her from her pathway with his ridiculous laughter that she could hear faintly. The answer is Definitely, ” No”. Because she has deliberately and firmly chosen the loss of measures to control and for restrictions. : : She speaks about “pane” and has intentionally not about ‘pain”. : : She has merely by mentioning the same, revealed her commitment to go away with ensuring meaningfully to go through the door without fear,
Not caring much what happens here
When I’m away:— : : : : : : : : : : She “shall miss the sycamore more,” She supposes,
“Than anything else on this earth that is out in green.” : : As a matter of fact , Only one thing she will definitely miss MORE , and that is The Green Tree Of ” Sycamore ” Green is associated for Nature. For Mew this Green is “From A Window” : : : :

“From A Window” , A June Poem By Charlotte Mew Information Appreciation and poem Analysis Presented by V Jayaraj Pune India March 7 , 2023 : : : : : : : :

Share this:

Related

Leave a comment Cancel reply