D.H. Lawrence (1885-1930)

Marcia Regina Vitor Santos

Vinícius Sampaio Silva

• D.H. Lawrence (1885-1930), English novelist, storywriter, critic, poet and painter, one of the greatest figures in 20th-century English literature. "Snake" and "How Beastly the Bourgeoisie is" are probably his most anthologized poems.

• Born on September 11, 1885, in Eastwood, Nottinghamshire, central England.

• The fourth child of a struggling coal miner, a heavy drinker. Mother: a former schoolteacher, greatly superior in education to her husband. Lawrence's childhood was dominated by poverty and friction between his parents.

• Educated at Nottingham High School, to which he had won a scholarship.

• Worked as a clerk in a surgical appliance factory and then for four years as a pupil-teacher.

• After studies at Nottingham University, Lawrence matriculated at 22 and briefly pursued a teaching career.

• Lawrence's mother died in 1910; he helped her die by giving her an overdose of sleeping medicine.

David Herbert Lawrence

Please note that Eastwood was widely open to the neighbouring countryside as shown by this photograph.

Childhood

As a child, he hated physical games like football or cricket and preferred the quiet company of little girls. Indeed, he suffered bad moments at Beauvale School...

...where he was found girlish by his schoolmates.

Lawrence also received a good religious education which gave him a thorough knowledge of the Bible. Congregationalism was the religion of his family, or rather of his mother.At the age of 12 he won a scholarship to Nottingham High School ; and this meant :- long days from 7am to 7pm,- financial difficulties for Mrs Lawrence (but her ambition for her son was such that she was prepared to make great sacrifices)- rather good results at school, but nothing exceptional. In the summer 1901, Bert met Jessie Chambers, the daughter of a nearby farmer...

Achievement

Romance: Jessie Chambers

In Sept. 1906 D.H. Lawrence was 21:

Mrs Frieda Weekley

“Odour of Chrysanthemums”

One of D. H. Lawrence’s most accomplished stories, written in 1909.

-- A dramatic moment in the life of Mrs. Elizabeth Bates and the death of her husband, Walter Bates.

-- Lawrence presents his parents’ marriage in the story

Characters (1)

Elizabeth Bates- a Housewife- a tall woman of

imperious mien - a handsome woman

with definite black eyebrows 

- a pregnant woman.

John

-Elizabeth Bates' son 

-a small, sturdy boy of five 

- “nasty,” like destroying flowers

-indifferent to all but himself

Annie

- Elizabeth Bates' daughter  

- a naïve girl

-a schoolgirl with curly hair that is different from her father’s blonde color

Characters (2)Elizabeth Bates' mother-in-law

-an elderly woman about sixty years old  

-Walter’s social superior, a teacher who was keen to

develop the talents of her children.

Walter

-Elizabeth Bates’ husband 

- a miner who is a drunker 

- blond, full-fleshed, with fine limbs

-died for suffocation

Summary • Part 1- In a winter day, Elizabeth Bates, a coal miner's wife, waited anxiously for her husband to return for dinner. Her husband didn’t come home.

• Part 2- Elizabeth looked for her husband, and her mother-in-law came. Her husband was killed accidentally that he died of suffocation.

4:30- Elizabeth and her son, John, waited the father’s coming to begin tea.4:45- Elizabeth’s daughter, Annie, came home late, and they sat down to tea.5:40- Elizabeth complained her husband’s drunk behavior.6:40- Children went to bed. Elizabeth concerned for the father’s safety but still felt angry. 8:00-Elizabeth went out and looked for her husband. John Rigley helped her look for her husband.9:00~9:30-She sat and waited in the house. She felt uneasy.9:45- Her mother-in-law came.10:30- Matthews and Jim carried Walter's corpse into the parlor. Elizabeth washed the body with her mother-in-law. They put clothes on him and locked the parlor's door.

Some SymbolsReading the text, it’s possible to identify some symbols

that represents the main ideas around Elizabeth:

Chrysanthemums: representing the sweet beginning of Elizabeth’s marriage as well as the pale colour in which her marriage had become;

Darkness: the word darkness in some parts of the writing brings the idea of disappointment and loneliness to which Elizabeth was subjected. She had an unhappy life beside her drunk husband, who’s suffocated to die;

The broken vase: represents the end of the marriage.

ThemeA. Industrial Revolution -Industrial blight against nature beauty

B. Life and death -The chrysanthemums, which bloom a little while in the

fall and then die, are symbolic of the fragility of the inner lives.

C. Marriage. -Their marriage had been dead before her husband lost his life that night in the mine. -Elizabeth never appreciated what she could have had with Walter.