Modernism: D. H. Lawrence

“the magnificent here and now of life in the flesh is ours, and ours alone, and ours only for a time. We ought to dance with rapture that we should be alive.”

Today, D. H. Lawrence is widely regarded as an imaginative genius. In his own time, however, his explicit depictions of male-female relationships and exploration of the dark sides of the human psyche garnered outrage and censorship. One of the most controversial writers of the early 20th century, Lawrence, whose racier works were banned for much of his lifetime, now occupies a prominent place in literary history.

A Miner’s Son -Lawrence spent his formative years in a Nottinghamshire coal-mining village. Growing up, he endured poverty, poor health, and constant strife between his mother—a former schoolteacher—and his father—an uneducated miner who drank. “Nothing,” he later remarked, “depresses me more than to come home to the place where I was born, and where I lived my first 20 years.” Despite this aversion, Lawrence returned to his hometown often in his fiction.

Birth of a Writer - As a child, Lawrence formed a deep emotional bond with his mother. Wanting her son to be educated and refined, she encouraged him in school. Compelled by financial hardship to seek employment at age 16, Lawrence took a job in a surgical goods factory. In 1908, he earned a teaching certificate, but he abandoned his teaching career four years later when he became seriously ill in the wake of his mother’s death. After his recovery, Lawrence was determined to try and make his living as a writer.

Groundbreaker - According to his own account, Lawrence began writing on a “slightly self-conscious Sunday afternoon, when I was 19.” By the time he was 26, he had published his first book, The White Peacock (1911). He then embarked on a series of novels reflecting his belief that industrialized society was damaging to the human psyche because it emphasized reason over emotion and intuition. These works not only fought against restrictive social and moral conventions but also broke many literary conventions of the day.

The “Here and Now” of Life - Despite the censorship of his work, chronic poverty, and advancing tuberculosis, Lawrence continued to write prolifically until his death in 1930, completing masterpieces such as Women in Love (1920) and Lady Chatterley’s Lover (1928). He and his wife, Frieda, lived all over the world. Later in his life, Lawrence wrote that “the magnificent here and now of life in the flesh is ours, and ours alone, and ours only for a time. We ought to dance with rapture that we should be alive.”

DISCUSSION POSTING: Respond to each of the the questions below. Each posting will be graded based on how well the student demonstrates a thorough understanding of the text as a reflection of modernism, ability to answer all three questions, originality of thought, use of textual support to defend ideas, and careful writing skills.

Grading: A - Exceeds expectations in both Content and Writing. B - Quality of Writing and/or Content above average. C - Meets requirements.

Postings will be graded on Sunday, May 10th.

For "The Rocking-horse Winner" please answer the following questions. Be thoughtful and use elements of the biography included in this post when appropriate.

1. Examine Imagery - A controlling image is a single image that extends throughout a literary work and shapes its meaning. Review the story, looking for lines in which Lawrence describes Paul’s eyes. What does this repeated image draw attention to? Cite evidence.

2. Interpret Theme - Consider what happens in this story because of the adults’ desire for money. What theme about materialism is Lawrence communicating to the reader? What literary elements does he employ to convey this theme? Cite evidence.

3. Critical Interpretations - Several critics have argued that every adult in the story except for the nurse contributes to Paul’s death. Do you agree with this interpretation? Explain why or why not, citing textual evidence to support your opinion.