Death
The theme of death hovers much of Mew’s poetry, often as the focus and sometimes as just a lingering presence. Death also appears in many different forms. For instance, “To a Child in Death” draws an analogy between the first stanza’s memorial to an unnamed person who “slipped away” with “half the music of the world unheard” to the second stanza realization that even Jesus was once “a little thing.” Less obvious thematic exploration of death occurs in the subject of “The Trees are Down.” Death in that poem is symbolically represented by cutting down trees at Euston Square Garden.
Closeted Homosexuality
As a lesbian whose life spanned the end of the Victorian Era right on through the Edwardian Age, Mew’s muse was stifled on the subject of love poems. The fact is that she wrote a number of love poems, but what is most striking about them is the lack of definite personal pronouns and the abundance a “you” that remains completely unidentified. "Fin de Fete,” “I So Liked Spring,” and “A Quoi Bon Dire” just three of the most well-known examples of a poem about love ending unhappily narrated by a speaker looking back wistfully on a romance that is no longer which directed to an unknown “you.” Mew explores the theme of homosexuality precisely by not admitting its existence.
Thwarted Lives
Mew’s lesbianism is combined with the strain of genetic insanity running in her family lineage to produce a near-obsession with the thematic concern of ambitions, desires and entire lives being thwarted. “Ken” is a poem about her real life gentle but mentally stunted brother’s life being thwarted by institutionalization. “The Farmer’s Wife” is a dramatic monologue by the farmer detailing the constant thwarting of his passion for his “too young” wife who winds up sleeping alone in the attic while just a few feet away he burns silently in unsatiated desire. And, as mentioned, her poems about love affairs are almost always framed as memories of happy times after the relationship has been thwarted.
