D.H.Lawrence

"To me, the earth rolls ponderously, superbly Coming my way without forethought or afterthought. To me, men's footfalls fall with a dull, soft rumble, ominous and lovely, Coming my way. ( "Revolutionary" 40-44) These lines, written by D. H Lawrence, are an excerpt from his life, as was most of his work. Lawrence was in love with the world, with the mystic reality, the language of true inspiration. Born before the turn of the century, Lawrence was the son of a coal-mining father and a middle class mother. One of four, he was always more interested in the arts than playing with the other boys. He didn't begin writing until age twenty but it only took four years until he was published by Ford Maddox Hueffer in the English Review (Malmude 67). His poetic works follow closely in the veins of his own experiences, growing and changing with him. He was obsessed with "mysticism, lore, dark urges and sexuality" (Smart 5136). A brutal objectivity and an almost circular description pattern offer a perfect setting for these obsessions, while strange but vivid image repetition sculpts Lawrence's poetry with haunting accuracy. The images, although strange, are yet familiar, understood on a basic human level of being. This was the great crafted art of Lawrence that is present in his prose as well as his poetry, however, the latter being the only one examined here. Lawrence crossed through five significant stages in his poetic journey to maturation. Each change orbited a change in his personal life, and as Lawrence grew to self-realization so too his poetry became a life of its own. His eloquent perceptions paired with unique, often dark artistic expressions are present from the beginning, but they crystalize in Lawrence's mature poetic voice just before his death.