As the Frost debate seems to have blown itself out, I thought I'd post a poem by Charlotte Mew:

The Farmer's Bride

Three summers since I chose a maid,
Too young maybe - but more's to do
at harvest-time than bide and woo,
When us was wed she turned afraid
Of love and me and all things human;
Like the shut of a winter's day
Her smile went, and 'twasn't a woman-
More like a little frightened fay.
One night, in the fall, she runned away.

"Out 'mong the sheep, her be," they said,
'Should properly have been abed;
But sure enough she wasn't there
Lying awake with her wide brown stare.
So over seven-acre field and up-along across the down
We chased her, flying like a hare
Before our lanterns. To Church-Town
All in shiver and a scare
We caught her, fetched her home at last
And turned the key upon her, fast.

She does the work about the house
As well as most, but like a mouse:
Happy enough to chat and play
With birds and rabbits and such as they,
So long as men-folk keep away.
"Not near, not near!" her eyes beseech
When one of us comes within reach.
The women say that beasts in stall
Look round like children at her call.
I've hardly heard her speak at all.

Shy as a leveret, swift as he,
Straight and slight as a young larch tree,
Sweet as the first wild violets, she,
To her wild self. But what to me?

The short days shorten and the the oaks are brown,
The blue smoke rises to the low grey sky,
One leaf in the still air falls slowly down,
A magpie's spotted feathers lie
On the black earth spread white with rime,
The berries redden up to Christmas-time.
What's Christmas time without there be
Some other in the house than we!

She sleeps up in the attic there
Alone, poor maid. 'Tis but a stair
Betwixt us. Oh! my God! the down,
The soft young down of her, the brown
The brown of her - her eyes, her hair, her hair!


This was first published in book form in 1916; but I doubt many people have read her even now.

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Steve Waling

I read this a few years ago, and the "Hill Wife" reminded me of it.

Very fine poem, and I'm delighted to see that
Mew hasn't been completely forgotten. She's
a good poet and deserves far more attention than
she's gotten. Hardy thought her one of the best
of his contemporaries.

Last September I spent a delightful afternoon with a ninety-six-year-old transvestite. I recited him Hardy, and he recited me Mew, whom I like very much.

Steve,

Thanks for posting. Mew is underappreciated.

Robert's comment about Hardy is interesting. This poem put me strongly in mind of <u>Jude the Obscure</u>.

Alicia