Male and Female Relationships in D. H. Lawrence’s Poetry

Article Sidebar

Published: Jan 1, 2015

Main Article Content

Nopnida Nanaen

Abstract

D. H. Lawrence’s reputation lies mainly as a writer of novels and short stories rather than as a poet. His poems, however, share similar ideas to his fictional work and some of them better reveal his development and themes than does the prose. This paper analyzes D. H. Lawrence’s view of the relationship between males and females through a close examination of specific poems over different periods that directly relate to the theme of relationships and connects these to the author’s personal life and related ideas in his novels: Sons and Lovers, The Rainbow and Women in Love. It would seem that Lawrence’s perspective on male and female relationships can be divided into three main stages; beginning with the romantic ideal in his early poetical works, Love Poems and Others (1913) and Amores (1916); evolving to a new form of relationship in the collection Look! We Have Come Through! (1917), proposing that one should maintain one’s self-identity within a relationship and including his manifesto for wedlock; and, finally, ending with his own particular reinvention which involves a transformation into the pure and single self as can be seen in the collections Birds, Beasts and Flowers (1923), Pansies (1929), and Last Poems (1932).

Article Details

Issue
No. 1 (2015): Thoughts 2015
Section
Articles

Copyright by the Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University.

Photocopying is allowed for internal, non-commercial use only. Photocopying for other uses or for purposes other than indicated must be permitted in writing from the Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University.

All views or conclusion are those of the authors of the articles and not necessarily those of the publisher or the editorial staff.
Author Biography

Nopnida Nanaen

Nopnida Nanaen received her BA. English from Silpakorn University in 2008, MA. English from Chulalongkorn University in 2012. She was a part-time lecturer at Silpakorn University and King Mongkut’s University of Technology North Bangkok from 2012 to 2014. From 2014 to present she has served as Full time English teacher at Mahidol Wittayanusorn School.

Ms. Nopnida has research experiences in literature field during the study at Chulalongkorn University. She has interests in D.H. Lawrence literary works, particularly in his novels and poetry. The main theme she focuses on is relationships between male and female and their complexity. Professionally, she has participated in seminars regarding English teaching and literature. Her aims for future education or personal development training include an integrated approach to the teaching of literature in the EFL classroom.

References

Alvarez, A. (1958). Lawrence’s poetry: The single state of man. In S. Spender (Ed.), D. H. Lawrence: Novelist, poet, prophet (pp. 210-222). New York, NY: Harper & Row.

Becket, F. (2002). The complete critical guide to D. H. Lawrence. London, England: Routledge.

Hardy, B. (1958). Women in D. H. Lawrence’s works. In S. Spender (Ed.), D. H. Lawrence: Novelist, poet, prophet (pp. 90-132). New York, NY: Harper & Row.

Johnson, M. M. (1988). Strong mothers, weak wives: The search for gender equality. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Lawrence, D. H. (1936). Phoenix: The posthumous paper of D. H. Lawrence. New York, NY: Penguin Books.

Lawrence, D. H. (1968). Sons and lovers. Middlesex, England: Penguin Books.

Lawrence, D. H. (1968). Women in love. Middlesex, England: Penguin Books.

Lawrence, D. H. (1972). Selected poems. K. Sagar (Ed.). Middlesex, England: Penguin Books.

Lawrence, D. H. (1994). The Works of D.H. Lawrence. Hertfordshire, England: Wordsworth Editions.

Lawrence, D. H. (1995). The rainbow. Hertfordshire, England: Wordsworth Editions.

Millett, K. (2000). Sexual Politics. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.

Perkins, D. (1976). A history of modern poetry: From the 1890s to the high modernist mode. Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.

Pinion, F. B. (1978). A D. H. Lawrence companion: Life, thought, and works. London, England: The Macmillan Press.

Simpson, H. (1982). D. H. Lawrence and feminism. DeKalb: Northern Illinois University Press.

Slade, T. (1970). D. H. Lawrence. New York, NY: Arco Publishing.