The Farmer's Bride is a poetry collection by Charlotte Mew, first published in 1916 under the imprint of Harold Monro's Poetry Bookshop. An expanded collection of the same name, with eleven additional poems, appeared in 1921. This was published in the US under the title Saturday Market.
The title poem in the collection, "The Farmer's Bride", had initially appeared in The Nation in 1912. The poem is a poignant lament by an inarticulate farmer about his love for his young wife and her inability to respond to him either physically or emotionally.
"The FarmerâÂÂs Bride" was a groundbreaking piece of work that shed light on Charlotte Mew's literary expertise and unique style of writing. Mew's life, which she kept very private, was full of tumultuous sorrow, loss, and upheaval from a very young age. As the oldest daughter of seven children she watched as several of her siblings were institutionalized, suffered from mental illness, and eventually committed suicide.