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Waleed Khan

Mrs. Bell

English IV-AP-1

3 November 2014

D.H. Lawrence

Born into poverty on September 11, 1885, D.H. Lawrence is one of the most

controversial, open minded, and creative poets of his time. His home in Eastwood,

 Nottinghamshire largely affected his writing and is the setting for many of his novels. His

mother’s high expectations and narcissistic attitude were sources of significant stress for

Lawrence, who later became highly interested in the field of psychoanalysis and the

subconscious (Tait). A bitter sense of realism can be seen in Lawrence’s writing, but a strange

feeling of acceptance and enlightenment always comes with it.

After being qualified as a teacher at Nottingham University College, the rest of

Lawrence’s life seemed like a continuous series of misfortunate events. Lawrence maintained his

status as a lower class individual for most of his days. Pecuniary struggles and harsh criticism

from critics put constant mental strain on Lawrence. In March 1912, Lawrence met Frieda von

Richthofen Weekley, who abandoned her two children and husband to live with Lawrence. They

married a year later and somehow stayed together for the rest of their lives despite a

dysfunctional, unstable relationship. Being of German descent, marriage to Weekley made

Lawrence a target for severe harassment during World War I. In addition to the harassment for

his personal decisions, Lawrence’s work was commonly regarded as obscene and was often

 

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censored. Lawrence’s writing would be considered “open minded”  by today’s standards, but

 back then, openly speaking of topics such as sexuality did not go well with most people. Many

considered him a “pornographer” of sorts, and disregarded his work as complete filth (Lyon). In

addition to his unpopular interests, it can also easily be seen that Lawrence had clear homosexual

thoughts and impulses. Lawrence is known for explicitly saying that his most perfect love was

with a coal miner when he was sixteen years old (Martin). As he grew older, Lawrence

developed an intense interest in Freud’s theories of psychoanalysis and wrote two books

developing his own theories of the subconscious mind. (Tait)

The themes of life, death, sex, and love are all tied together in Lawrence’s writing. All of

these follow a pattern of creation, destruction, and renewal. Even in writings that seem

specifically geared toward one of these topics, connections can be made to others with slight

change of perspective.

D.H. Lawrence is classified as a Modern writer. The Modern wave of literature, which

dealt with going against the grain and living life independently with a focus on personal morals,

spanned from the beginning of the twentieth century to approximately 1965. F. Scott Fitzgerald,

author of the Great Gatsby, and Robert Frost, author of The Road not Taken, are two other

writers of this movement who, despite having completely different personal views and writings,

characterize its traits. Two world events that greatly affected Lawrence’s writing were World

War I and the genesis Freud’s theory of psychoanalysis. His marriage to a German woman and

obsessive interest in sexuality put Lawrence into a state of social exile, which served as a catalyst

for his mordant, realistic writing. These circumstances helped Lawrence detach himself from

society and enabled him to write thought provoking social criticisms that weren’t bound by other

 people’s opinions.

 

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The Ship of Death, one of D.H Lawrence’s final poems, deals with accepting the

inevitable and how destruction and creation are cyclical. The poem beings by describing a

transition from fall to winter, which parallels the transition from life to death. Phrases like “the

long journey towards oblivion” and “bidding farewell to one’s own self” set the tone for an

obviously dark and depressing poem. In the second stanza, the concept of a “ship of death” is

introduced. “The Ship of Death” represents accepting death and preparing for the unknown. The

second stanza also invokes a strange sense of satisfaction of this transition from life to death.

Lawrence writes –  

“And death is on the air like a smell of ashes! Ah! Can’t you smell it?” 

Even in the face of the unknown, even with a “bruised body”, a “frightened soul”, “shrinking”

and “wincing from the cold”, man can be calm and hopeful. It may seem slightly insane, but that

state of mind is arguably the best to have when there’s no real reason to have hope.

In the next two stanzas, Lawrence speaks of a “quietus”. A quietus is defined as any

method of death. He says that “daggers, bodkins,” and “bullets” are no real quietus. A violent,

quick death is no real death at all. A real death is prepared for. A real death has a ship of death

 behind it. In the next few stanzas, Lawrence begins to describe the process of a real death.

Repetition of the phrase “we are dying” and a description of a slow, hopeless death disturbs the

reader and embeds the idea of death/destruction in the reader’s mind. The setting described is a

“sea of death” with “no port” and “nowhere to go”. The fear of the unknown and the afterlife are

shown through this “sea of death”. At the end of this section, the ship of death disappears into

oblivion. All signs of life disappear, and nothingness fills the setting.

 

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After some of the most depressing lines of poetry imaginable, the tone does a complete

one-eighty. The connotation of the word’s Lawrence uses completely changes. Lawrence writes

of a thread of pale light, just barely visible, on the horizon. Out of oblivion, “the cruel dawn

comes back to life” and “a flush of rose” encompasses the setting. The body is then seen as

“strange and lovely” instead of wounded and dying. The heart is “renewed with peace” for a

short time. A connection can be drawn between death having the body of a dying man, and life

having the body of a strange looking, yet beautiful, new-born child. Right as this happens, the

cycle loops back and the process of death happens again.

Though D.H. Lawrence’s work did not get much praise until after his death, his writings

can easily be characterized as quintessential pieces of modern literature. His open portrayal of

sexuality and jaded view on societal norms were way ahead of his times. Lawrence was willing

to write what went on in his head with complete honesty, regardless of what others thought of

him. He lived his life completely as he saw fit. Lawrence was an independent, a poet, and an

artist whose work, unfortunately, goes unappreciated by the mainstream.

 

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Work Cited

Deutsch, Babette. "The Earthly and the Definite." Poetry In Our Time. New York, Ny.:

Columbia University Press, 1956. 86-92. Rpt. in Poetry Criticism. Ed. Timothy J. Sisler.

Vol. 54. Detroit: Gale, 2004. Literature Resource Center . Web. 24 Oct. 2014

Lyon, John M. "Lady Chatterley's Lover: Overview." Reference Guide to English Literature. Ed.

D. L. Kirkpatrick. 2nd ed. Chicago: St. James Press, 1991. Literature Resource Center.

Web. 27 Oct. 2014.

Martin, Murray S. "D. H. Lawrence: Overview." Gay & Lesbian Literature. Vol. 1. Detroit: Gale,

1994. Literature Resource Center. Web. 27 Oct. 2014.

Tait, Michael S. "D(avid) H(erbert Richards) Lawrence." Modern British Essayists: First Series.

Ed. Robert Lawrence Beum. Detroit: Gale Research, 1990. Dictionary of Literary

Biography Vol. 98. Literature Resource Center. Web. 27 Oct. 2014.