D. H. Lawrence: Difference between revisions

'''David Herbert Lawrence''' (11 September 1885 – 2 March 1930) was an English novelist, short story writer, poet, playwright, literary critic, travel writer, essayist, and painter. His [[Literary modernism|modernist]] works reflect on [[modernity]], [[social alienation]] and [[industrialization]], while championing sexuality, vitality and instinct. Four of his most famous novels — ''[[Sons and Lovers|]]''Sons and Lovers'']]

(1913), ''[[The Rainbow|]]''The Rainbow'']] (1915), ''[[Women in Love]]'' (1920), and ''[[Lady Chatterley's Lover]]'' (1928)— were the subject of censorship trials for their radical portrayals of romance, sexuality and use of explicit language.

Lawrence's opinions and artistic preferences earned him a controversial reputation; he endured contemporary persecution and public misrepresentation of his creative work throughout his life, much of which he spent in a voluntary exile that he described as a "savage enough pilgrimage".<ref>Warren Roberts, [[James Boulton|James T. Boulton]], and Elizabeth Mansfield (eds.), ''The Letters of D. H. Lawrence'', 2002, letter to J. M. Murry, 2 February 1923, p. 375</ref> At the time of his death, he had been variously scorned as tasteless, avant-garde, and a pornographer who had only garnered success for erotica; however, English novelist and critic [[E. M. Forster]], in an obituary notice, challenged this widely held view, describing him as "the greatest imaginative novelist of our generation".<ref>E. M. Forster, letter to ''[[The Nation and Atheneum]]'', 29 March 1930</ref> Later, English literary critic [[F. R. Leavis]] also championed both his artistic integrity and his moral seriousness.<ref>Robertson, P. J. M. [https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-349-09670-1_5 "F. R. Leavis and D. H. Lawrence]</ref><ref>Bilan, R. P. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/44233595 "Leavis on Lawrence: The Problem of the Normative"]</ref>

TheLawrence was the fourth child of Arthur John Lawrence, a barely literate miner at [[Brinsley Colliery]], and Lydia Lawrence (née Beardsall), a former [[pupil-teacher]] who had been forcedobliged to perform manual work in a [[lace|lace factory]] due to her family's financial difficulties,.<ref>{{cite web |last=Gillespie |first=Gavin |date=9 February 2024 |title=D.H. Lawrence 1885-1930: AnHis illustrated biography.Life, His life, deathDeath, and thereafter, containing unique photographs of the area where he was born. Thereafter|url=https://www.dh-lawrence.co.uk/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020604112958/http://www.lawrenceseastwood.co.uk/ |archive-date=4 June 2002 |access-date=24 May 2001 |website=DH Lawrence's Eastwood}}</ref> LawrenceHe spent his formative years in the [[coal mining]] town of [[Eastwood, Nottinghamshire|Eastwood]], [[Nottinghamshire]]. The house in which he was born, 8a Victoria Street, is now the [[D. H. Lawrence Birthplace Museum]]. His working-class background and the tensions between his parents provided the raw material for a numbersome of his early works. Lawrence roamed out from an early age in the patches of open, hilly country and remaining fragments of [[Sherwood Forest]] in [[Felley]] woods to the north of [[Eastwood, Nottinghamshire|Eastwood]], beginning a lifelong appreciation of the natural world, and he often wrote about "the country of my heart"<ref>Letter to [[Rolf Gardiner]], 3 December 1926.</ref> as a setting for much of his fiction.

The young Lawrence attended Beauvale Board School<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/jun/13/dh.lawrence D.H. Lawrence] (22 July 2008). ''TheGuardian.com''. Retrieved 15 September 2018.</ref> (now renamed Greasley Beauvale D. H. Lawrence Primary School in his honour) from 1891 until 1898, becoming the first local pupil to win a [[county council]] scholarship to [[Nottingham High School]] in nearby [[Nottingham]]. He left in 1901,<ref name="nottingham1">{{cite web | url=https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/manuscriptsandspecialcollections/collectionsindepth/lawrence/biography.aspx | title=Brief Biography of DH Lawrence -– the University of Nottingham}}</ref> working for three months as a junior clerk at Haywood's [[Surgical instrument|surgical appliances]] factory, but a severe bout of [[pneumonia]] ended this career. During his convalescence he often visited Hagg's Farm, the home of the Chambers family, and began a friendship with Jessie Chambers, one of the daughters, Jessie Chambers, who would go on to inspire characters he created in his writing. An important aspect of thishis relationship with Chambers and other adolescent acquaintances was a shared love of books,<ref name="nottingham1908">{{cite web | url=https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/manuscriptsandspecialcollections/collectionsindepth/lawrence/extendedbiography/chapter1.aspx | title=Chapter 1: Background and youth: 1885-19081885–1908 -– the University of Nottingham}}</ref> an interest that lasted throughout Lawrence's life.

In a private letter written in 1908, Lawrence voiced support for eugenics by the method of a "lethal chamber" to dispose of "all the sick, the halt, the maimed". <ref>{{cite book |last1=Kershaw |first1=Ian |title=To Hell and Back |date=2016 |publisher=Penguin Books |location=Great Britain |isbn=978-0-141-98043-0 |page=20}}</ref>

In the years 1902 to 1906, Lawrence served as a [[pupil-teacher]] at the British School, Eastwood. He went on to become a full-time student and received a [[Qualified Teacher Status|teaching certificate]] from [[University of Nottingham|University College, Nottingham]] (then an external college of [[University of London]]), in 1908. During these early years he was working on his first poems, some short stories, and a draft of a novel, ''Laetitia'', which was eventually to become ''[[The White Peacock]].'' At the end of 1907, he won a short story competition in the ''[[Nottingham Guardian|''Nottinghamshire Guardian'']]'',<ref name="nottingham1908"/> the first time that he had gained any wider recognition for his literary talents.

In the autumn of 1908, the newly qualified Lawrence left his childhood home for London.<ref name="nottingham1908"/> While teaching in Davidson Road School, [[Croydon]], he continued writing.<ref name="nottingham2">{{cite web | url=https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/manuscriptsandspecialcollections/collectionsindepth/lawrence/extendedbiography/chapter2.aspx | title=Chapter 2: London and first publication: 1908-19121908–1912 -– the University of Nottingham}}</ref> Jessie Chambers submitted some of Lawrence's early poetry to [[Ford Madox Ford]] (then known as Ford Hermann Hueffer), editor of the influential ''[[The English Review]]''.<ref name="nottingham2"/> Hueffer then commissioned the story ''[[Odour of Chrysanthemums]]'' which, when published in that magazine, encouraged [[Heinemann (book publisher)|Heinemann]], a London publisher, to ask Lawrence for more work. His career as a professional author now began in earnest, although he taught for another year.

In March 1912, Lawrence met [[Frieda von Richthofen|Frieda Weekley (née von Richthofen)]], with whom he was to share the rest of his life. Six years his senior, she was married to [[Ernest Weekley]], his former [[Linguistics|modern languages]] professor at [[University of Nottingham|University College, Nottingham]], and had three young children. However, she and Lawrence [[elopement|eloped]] and left England for Frieda's parents' home in [[Metz]], a [[Garrison|garrison town]] (then in Germany) near the disputed border with France. Lawrence experienced his first encounter with [[France–Germany relations|tensions between Germany and France]] when he was arrested and accused of being a British [[Espionage|spy]], before being released following an intervention from Frieda's father. After this incident, Lawrence left for a small hamlet to the south of [[Munich]] where he was joined by Frieda for their "honeymoon", later memorialised in the series of love poems titled ''Look! We Have Come Through'' (1917).

Lawrence and Frieda returned to Britain in 1913 for a short visit, during which they encountered and befriended [[Literary criticism|critic]] [[John Middleton Murry]] and [[New Zealanders in the United Kingdom|New Zealand-born]] short story writer [[Katherine Mansfield]].

Also during that year, on 28 July, Lawrence met the Welsh tramp poet [[W. H. Davies]], whose nature poetry he initially admired. Davies collected [[Autograph|autographsautograph]]s, and was keen to have Lawrence's. [[Georgian poetry]] publisher [[Edward Marsh (polymath)|Edward Marsh]] secured this for Davies, probably as part of a signed poem, and also arranged a meeting between the poet and Lawrence and his wife. Despite his early enthusiasm for Davies' work, Lawrence's view cooled after reading ''Foliage''; whilst in Italy, he also disparaged ''Nature Poems'', calling them "so thin, one can hardly feel them".<ref>Stonesifer, Richard James (1963), ''W. H. Davies: A Critical Biography''. Jonathan Cape.</ref>

''The Rainbow'' follows three generations of a Nottinghamshire farming family from the pre-industrial to the [[industrial age]], focusing particularly on a daughter, Ursula, and her aspiration for a more fulfilling life than that of becoming a housebound wife.<ref>Worthen, John (2005) ''D. H. Lawrence: The Life of an Outsider.'' Allen Lane. p. 159.</ref> ''Women in Love'' delves into the complex relationships between four major characters, including theUrsula sistersof Ursula''The Rainbow'' and her sister Gudrun. Both novels exploredexplore grand themes and ideas that challenged conventional thought on [[the arts]], politics, economic growth, gender, sexual experience, friendship, and marriage. Lawrence's views as expressed in the novels are now thought to be far ahead of his time. The frank and relatively straightforward manner in which he wrote about [[sexual attraction]] was ostensibly why the books were initially banned, in particular the mention of same-sex attraction; Ursula has an affair with a woman in ''The Rainbow'', and there is an undercurrent of attraction between the two principal male characters in ''Women in Love''.

While working on ''Women in Love'' in [[Cornwall]] during 1916–17, Lawrence developed a strong relationship with a Cornish farmer named William Henry Hocking, which some scholars believe was possibly romantic, especially considering Lawrence's fascination with the theme of homosexuality in ''Women in Love''.<ref>Maddox, Brenda (1994), ''D. H. Lawrence: The Story of a Marriage.'' New York: Simon & Schuster, p. 244 {{ISBN|0-671-68712-3}}</ref> Although Lawrence never made it clear whether their relationship was sexual, Frieda believed it was.<ref>Spalding, Francis (1997), ''[[Duncan Grant]]: A Biography''. p. 169: "Lawrence's views [i.e., warning [[David Garnett]] against homosexual tendencies], as [[Quentin Bell]] was the first to suggest and S. P. Rosenbaum has argued conclusively, were stirred by a dread of his own homosexual susceptibilities, which are revealed in his writings, notably the cancelled prologue to ''Women in Love.''"</ref> In a 1913 letter written during 1913, he writes, "I should like to know why nearly every man that approaches greatness tends to homosexuality, whether he admits it or not...."<ref>Letter to Henry Savage, 2 December 1913</ref> He is also quoted as saying, "I believe the nearest I've come to perfect love was with a young coal-miner when I was about 16."<ref>Quoted in ''My Life and Times, Octave Five, 1918–1923'' by [[Compton MacKenzie]] pp. 167–168</ref> However, given his enduring and robust relationship with Frieda, it is likely that he was primarily what might be termed today [[bi-curious]], and whether he actually ever had homosexual relations remains an open question.<ref>Maddox, Brenda (1994), ''The Married Man: A Life of D. H. Lawrence.'' Sinclair-Stevenson, p. 276 {{ISBN|978-1-85619-243-9}}</ref>

Eventually, Frieda obtained her divorce from Ernest Weekley. Lawrence and Frieda returned to Britain shortly before the outbreak of [[World War I]] and were legally married on 13 July 1914. During this time, Lawrence worked with London intellectuals and writers such as [[Dora Marsden]], [[T. S. Eliot]], [[Ezra Pound]], and others connected with ''[[The Egoist (periodical)|''The Egoist'']]'', an important [[Literary modernism|Modernist]] [[literary magazine]] that published some of his work. Lawrence also worked on adapting [[Filippo Tommaso Marinetti]]'s ''[[Manifesto of Futurism]]'' into English.<ref>See the chapter "Rooms in the ''Egoist'' Hotel," and esp. p. 53, in ''Clarke, Bruce (1996). Dora Marsden and Early Modernism: Gender, Individualism, Science.'' U of Michigan P. pp. 137–72. {{ISBN|978-0-472-10646-2}}.</ref> He also met the young Jewish artist [[Mark Gertler (artist)|Mark Gertler]], with whom he became good friends for a time; Lawrence would later express his admiration for Gertler's 1916 anti-war painting, ''[[Merry-Go-Round (Gertler painting)|''Merry-Go-Round]]'']] as "the best ''modern'' picture I have seen. . .. it is great and true."<ref>Haycock, (2009) ''A Crisis of Brilliance: Five Young British Artists and the Great War.'' p. 257</ref> Gertler would inspire the character Loerke (a sculptor) in ''Women in Love''.

Frieda's German parentage and Lawrence's open contempt for [[militarism]] caused them to be viewed with suspicion and live in near-destitution during wartime Britain; this may have contributed to ''[[The Rainbow]]'' being suppressed and investigated for its alleged [[obscenity]] in 1915.<ref>Worthen, John (2005) ''D.H. Lawrence: The Life of an Outsider.'' Allen Lane. p.164</ref> Later, the couple were accused of spying and signaling to [[U-boat|German submarines]] off the coast of [[Cornwall]], where they lived at [[Zennor]]. During this period, Lawrence finished his final draft of ''[[Women in Love]]''. Not published until 1920,<ref name="newyorker.com">{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2005/12/19/the-deep-end|title=The Deep End|first=Benjamin|last=Kunkel|magazine=The New Yorker|date=12 December 2005}}</ref> it is now widely recognized as a novel of great dramatic force and intellectual subtlety.

In late 1917, after constant harassment by the armed forces and other authorities, Lawrence was forced to leave Cornwall aton three days’days' notice under the terms of the [[Defence of the Realm Act]]. ThisHe persecutiondescribed wasthis later describedpersecution in an autobiographical chapter of his novel ''[[Kangaroo (novel)|''Kangaroo]]'']] (1923). Lawrence spent a few months of early 1918 in the small, rural village of [[Hermitage, Berkshire|Hermitage]] near [[Newbury, Berkshire]]. Subsequently, he lived for just under a year (mid-1918 to early 1919) at Mountain Cottage, [[Middleton-by-Wirksworth]], [[Derbyshire]], where he wrote one of his most poetic short stories, ''[[Wintry Peacock]]''. Until 1919, poverty compelled him to shift from address to address.

During thisthe period[[1918 influenza pandemic]], he barely survived a severe attack of [[influenza]].<ref name="newyorker.com"/>

After the wartime years, Lawrence began what he termed his "savage pilgrimage", a time of voluntary exile from his native country. He escaped from Britain at the earliest practical opportunity and returned only twice for brief visits, spending the remainder of his life travelling with Frieda. This [[wanderlust]] took him to Australia, Italy, [[British Ceylon|Ceylon]] ([[Sri Lanka]]), the United States, Mexico and the [[Southern France|Southsouth of France]]. Abandoning Britain in November 1919, they headed south, first to the [[Abruzzo]] region in central Italy and then onwards to [[Capri]] and the Fontana Vecchia in [[Taormina]], Sicily. From Sicily they made brief excursions to [[Sardinia]], [[Monte Cassino]], [[Malta]], Northern Italy, Austria and Southern Germany.

Many of these places appear in Lawrence's writings, including ''[[The Lost Girl]]'' (for which he won the [[James Tait Black Memorial Prize]] for fiction), ''[[Aaron's Rod (novel)|Aaron's Rod]]'' and the fragment titled ''[[Mr Noon]]'' (the first part of which was published in the Phoenix anthology of his works, and the entirety in 1984). He wrote [[novellas]] such as ''[[The Captain's Doll]]'', ''[[The Fox (novella)|The Fox]]'' and ''[[The Ladybird]]''. In addition, some of his short stories were issued in the collection ''[[England, My England and Other Stories]]''. During these years Lawrence also wrote poems about the natural world in ''[[Birds, Beasts and Flowers]]''.

Lawrence is often considered one of the finest travel writers in English. His travel books include ''Twilight in Italy'', ''Etruscan Places'', ''[[Mornings in Mexico]]'', and ''[[Sea and Sardinia]]'', which describes a brief journey he undertook in January 1921 and focuses on the life of [[Sardinia]]’s's people.<ref>Luciano Marrocu, ''Introduzione'' to Mare e Sardegna (Ilisso 2000); [[Giulio Angioni]], ''Pane e formaggio e altre cose di Sardegna'' (Zonza 2002)</ref> Less well known is his eighty-four page introduction to [[Maurice Magnus]]'s 1924 ''Memoirs of the Foreign Legion'',<ref>Maurice Magnus. ''Memoirs of the Foreign Legion'' (Martin Secker, 1924; Alfred A. Knopf, 1925), introduction by D. H. Lawrence. Introduction reprinted in ''Phoenix II: Uncollected, Unpublished, and Other Prose Works by D. H. Lawrence'' (The Viking Press, Inc. 1970); in [https://archive.org/details/memoirofmauricem00lawr Lawrence, D. H., ''Memoir of Maurice Magnus'', Cushman, Keith, ed., Black Sparrow Press, 1987]; in ''Introduction and Reviews'' in ''The Cambridge Edition of the Works of D. H. Lawrence'' (2004); and in ''Life With a Capital L'', [[Penguin Group|Penguin Books Limited]] (also published by [[New York Review Books]] as ''The Bad Side of Books''), essays by D. H. Lawrence chosen and introduced by [[Geoff Dyer]] (2019).</ref> in which Lawrence recalls his visit to the monastery of [[Monte Cassino]]. Lawrence told his friend [[Catherine Carswell]] that his introduction to Magnus's ''Memoirs'' was "the best single piece of writing, as ''writing'', that he had ever done".<ref>Lawrence, D. H., ''Memoir of Maurice Magnus'', p. 9 (introduction by Keith Cushman).</ref>

His other nonfiction books include two responses to [[Sigmund Freud|Freudian]] [[psychoanalysis]], ''Psychoanalysis and the Unconscious'' and ''Fantasia of the Unconscious''; ''Apocalypse and Other Writings on Revelation''; and ''[[Movements in European History]]'', a school textbook published under a pseudonym, is a reflection of Lawrence's blighted reputation in Britain.

In late February 1922, the Lawrences left Europe intending to migrate to the United States. They sailed in an easterly direction, however, first to Ceylon and then on to Australia. During a short residence in [[Darlington, Western Australia|Darlington]], Western Australia, Lawrence met local writer [[Mollie Skinner]], with whom he coauthored the novel ''[[The Boy in the Bush]]''. This stay was followed by a brief stop in the small coastal town of [[Thirroul, New South Wales|Thirroul]], New South Wales, during which Lawrence completed ''[[Kangaroo (novel)|''Kangaroo'']]'', a novel about local fringe politics that also explored his wartime experiences in Cornwall.<ref>Joseph Davis, D.H. Lawrence at Thirroul, Collins, Sydney, 1989</ref>

The Lawrences finally arrived in the United States in September 1922. Lawrence had several times discussed the idea of setting up a [[utopian community]] with several of his friends, having written in 1915 to Willie Hopkin, his old [[Socialism|socialist]] friend from Eastwood: <blockquote>"I want to gather together about twenty souls and sail away from this world of war and squalor and found a little colony where there shall be no money but a sort of communism as far as necessaries of life go, and some real decency … a place where one can live simply, apart from this civilisation … [with] a few other people who are also at peace and happy and live, and understand and be free.…"<ref>Letter to Willie Hopkin, January 18th 1915</ref></blockquote>It was with this in mind that they made for [[Taos, New Mexico|Taos]], New Mexico, a [[Taos Pueblo|Pueblo]] town where many white [[Bohemianism|"bohemians"]] had settled, including [[Mabel Dodge Luhan]], a prominent socialite. Here they eventually acquired the 160-acre (0.65&nbsp;km²) Kiowa Ranch, now called the [[D. H. Lawrence Ranch]], in 1924 from Dodge Luhan in exchange for the manuscript of ''The Plumed Serpent''.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Mabel: A Biography of Mabel Dodge Luhan|last=Hahn|first=Emily|date=1977|publisher=Houghton Mifflin|isbn=978-0395253496|location=Boston|page=[https://archive.org/details/mabelbiographyof00hahn/page/180 180]|oclc=2934093|url=https://archive.org/details/mabelbiographyof00hahn/page/180}}</ref> The couple stayed in New Mexico for two years, with extended visits to [[Lake Chapala]] and [[Oaxaca]] in Mexico. While Lawrence was in New Mexico, he was visited by [[Aldous Huxley]].

While in the USU.S., Lawrence rewrote and published ''[[Studies in Classic American Literature]]'', a set of critical essays begun in 1917 and described by [[Edmund Wilson]] as "one of the few first-rate books that have ever been written on the subject".<ref>Wilson, Edmund, ''The Shock of Recognition''. New York: Farrar, Straus and Cudahy, 1955, p. 906.</ref> These interpretations, with their insights into [[symbol]]ism, [[Transcendentalism|New England Transcendentalism]] and the [[Puritans|Puritan sensibility]], were a significant factor in the revival of the reputation of [[Herman Melville]] during the early 1920s. In addition, Lawrence completed new fictional works, including ''[[The Boy in the Bush]]'', ''[[The Plumed Serpent]]'', ''[[St Mawr]]'', ''[[The Woman who Rode Away]]'', ''[[The Princess (story)|''The Princess'']]'' and other short stories. He also produced the collection of linked [[Travel literature|travel essays]] that became ''[[Mornings in Mexico]]''.

A brief voyage to England at the end of 1923 was a failure and Lawrence soon returned to Taos, convinced his life as an author now lay in the United States. However, in March 1925 he suffered a near fatal attack of [[malaria]] and [[tuberculosis]] while on a third visit to [[Mexico]]. Although he eventually recovered, the diagnosis of his condition obliged him to return once again to Europe. He was dangerously ill and poor health limited his ability to travel for the remainder of his life. The Lawrences made their home in a villa in Northern Italy near [[Florence]], where he wrote ''[[The Virgin and the Gypsy|''The Virgin and the Gipsy]]'']] and the various versions of ''[[Lady Chatterley's Lover]]'' (1928). The latter book, his last major novel, was initially published in private editions in Florence and Paris and reinforced his notoriety. A story set once more in Nottinghamshire about a cross-class relationship between a Lady and her gamekeeper, it broke new ground in describing their sexual relationship in explicit yet literary language. Lawrence hoped to challenge the British taboos around sex: to enable men and women "to think sex, fully, completely, honestly, and cleanly."<ref>''<nowiki>A Propos of Lady Chatterley's Lover</nowiki> and Other Essays'' (1961). Penguin, p. 89</ref> Lawrence responded robustly to those who took offense, even publishing satirical poems (''Pansies'' and ''Nettles'') as well as a [[Tract (literature)|tract]] on ''Pornography and Obscenity''.

The return to Italy allowed him to renew old friendships; during these years he was particularly close to [[Aldous Huxley]], who was to edit the first collection of Lawrence's letters after his death, along with a memoir.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Poller |first=Jake |date=January 2010 |title=The philosophy of life-worship: D.H. Lawrence and Aldous Huxley |url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A243877849/GPS?u=wikipedia&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=d06fd8eb |journal=D.H. Lawrence Review |volume=34-3534–35 |via=Gale}}</ref> After Lawrence visited local archaeological sites (particularly old tombs) with artist [[Earl Brewster]] in April 1927, his collected essays inspired by the excursions were published as ''[[Sketches of Etruscan Places and other Italian essays|Sketches of Etruscan Places]]'', a book that contrasts the lively past with [[Benito Mussolini]]'s fascism.

Lawrence continued to produce short stories and other works of fiction such as ''[[The Escaped Cock]]'' (also published as ''The Man Who Died''), an unorthodox reworking of the story of Jesus Christ's [[Resurrection of Jesus|Resurrection]].

Lawrence was very interested in the [[Haptic communication|sense of touch]], and his focus on physical intimacy has its roots in a desire to restore an emphasis on the body and rebalance it with what he perceived to be Western civilization's overemphasis on the mind; in a 1929 essay, "Men Must Work and Women As Well," he wrote:<blockquote>"Now then we see the trend of our civilization, in terms of human feeling and human relation. It is, and there is no denying it, towards a greater and greater abstraction from the physical, towards a further and further physical separateness between men and women, and between individual and individual.... It only remains for some men and women, individuals, to try to get back their bodies and preserve the other flow of warmth, affection and physical unison. There is nothing else to do." ''Phoenix II: Uncollected, Unpublished, and Other Prose Works by D.H. Lawrence'', ed. Warren Roberts and Harry T. Moore (New York: The Viking Press, 1968), pp. 589, 591.</blockquote>In his later years, Lawrence developed the potentialities of the short novel form in ''[[St Mawr]]'', ''[[The Virgin and the Gypsy]]'' and ''[[The Escaped Cock]]''.

Just as the [[First World War]] dramatically changed the work of many of the poets who saw service in the trenches, Lawrence's own work dramatically changed, during his years in Cornwall. During this time, he wrote [[free verse]] influenced by [[Walt Whitman]].<ref>M. Gwyn Thomas, (1995) "Whitman in the British Isles", in ''Walt Whitman and the World'', ed. Gay Wilson Allen and Ed Folsom. University of Iowa Press. p.16</ref> He set forth his manifesto for much of his later verse in the introduction to ''New Poems''. "We can get rid of the stereotyped movements and the old hackneyed associations of sound or sense. We can break down those artificial conduits and canals through which we do so love to force our utterance. We can break the stiff neck of habit […] But we cannot positively prescribe any motion, any rhythm."

D. H. Lawrence had a lifelong interest in painting, which became one of his main forms of expression in his last years. His paintings were exhibited at the Warren Gallery in London's [[Mayfair]] in 1929. The exhibition was extremely controversial, with many of the 13,000 people visiting mainly to gawk. The ''[[Daily Express]]'' claimed, "''Fight with an Amazon'' represents a hideous, bearded man holding a fair-haired woman in his lascivious grip while wolves with dripping jaws look on expectantly, [this] is frankly indecent".<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_V4xBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA339|title=Lake Garda: Gateway to D. H. Lawrence's Voyage to the Sun. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. 2013|date=13 November 2013|isbn=9781443854139|last1=Ceramella|first1=Nick|publisher=Cambridge Scholars }}</ref> However, several artists and art experts praised the paintings. [[Gwen John]], reviewing the exhibition in ''[[Everyman (magazine)|''Everyman'']]'', spoke of Lawrence's "stupendous gift of self-expression" and singled out ''The Finding of Moses'', ''Red Willow Trees'' and ''Boccaccio Story'' as "pictures of real beauty and great vitality". Others singled out ''Contadini'' for special praise. After a complaint, the police seized thirteen of the twenty-five paintings, including ''Boccaccio Story'' and ''Contadini''. Despite declarations of support from many writers, artists, and [[Member of Parliament#United Kingdom|members of Parliament]], Lawrence was able to recover his paintings only by agreeing never to exhibit them in England again. Years after his death, his widow Frieda asked artist and friend [[Joseph Glasco]] to arrange an exhibition of Lawrence’sLawrence's paintings, which he discussed with his gallerist Catherine Viviano.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Raeburn |first=Michael |title=Joseph Glasco: The Fifteenth American |publisher=Cacklegoose Press |year=2015 |isbn=9781611688542 |location=London |pages=127, 139 |language=English}}</ref> The largest collection of the paintings is now at La Fonda de Taos<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.lafondataos.com/activity/d-h-lawrence-forbidden-art/|title=Art Galleries in Taos NM &#124; Hotel La Fonda de Taos}}</ref> hotel in [[Taos, New Mexico]]. Several others, including ''Boccaccio Story'' and ''Resurrection'', are at the Humanities Research Centre of the [[University of Texas at Austin]].

A heavily censored abridgement of ''[[Lady Chatterley's Lover]]'' was published in the United States by [[Alfred A. Knopf]] in 1928. This edition was posthumously reissued in paperback in the United States by both Signet Books and [[Penguin Books]] in 1946.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://flashbak.com/twenty-five-lady-chatterleys-lover-covers-369030/|title=1946 Penguin and Signet book covers|date=3 December 2016}}</ref> The first unexpurgated edition of ''Lady Chatterley’sChatterley's Lover'' was printed in July 1928 in Florence by a small publisher, [[Giuseppe Orioli]]: 1000 copies in a very good print, according D. H. Lawrence, who wrote a thank-you poem to Orioli. When the unexpurgated edition of ''Lady Chatterley's Lover'' was published by Penguin Books in Britain in 1960, the trial of Penguin under the [[Obscene Publications Act 1959|Obscene Publications Act of 1959]] became a major public event and a test of the new obscenity law. The 1959 act (introduced by [[Roy Jenkins]]) had made it possible for publishers to escape conviction if they could show that a work was of literary merit. One of the objections was to the frequent use of the word "fuck" and its derivatives and the word "[[cunt]]".

Despite often writing about political, spiritual and philosophical matters, Lawrence was essentially contrary by nature and hated to be pigeonholed.<ref>Worthen, John (2005), ''D. H. Lawrence: The Life of an Outsider'', Allen Lane, p. 171. {{ISBN| 978-0141007311}}</ref> Critics such as [[Terry Eagleton]]<ref>Eagleton, Terry (2005), ''The English Novel: An Introduction'', Wiley-Blackwell, pp. 258–260. {{ISBN| 978-1405117074}}</ref> have argued that Lawrence was [[right-wing]] due to his lukewarm attitude to democracy, which he intimated would tend towards the leveling down of society and the subordination of the individual to the sensibilities of the "average" man. In his letters to [[Bertrand Russell]] around 1915, Lawrence voiced his opposition to enfranchising the working class and his hostility to the burgeoning labour movements, and disparaged the [[French Revolution]], referring to "Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity" as the "three-fanged serpent." Rather than a republic, Lawrence called for an absolute dictator and equivalent dictatrix to lord over the lower peoples.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Letters of D. H. Lawrence|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2002|pages=365–366}}</ref> In 1953, recalling his relationship with Lawrence in the [[World War I|the First World War]], Russell characterised Lawrence as a "proto-German Fascist," saying "I was a firm believer in democracy, whereas he had developed the whole philosophy of Fascism before the politicians had thought of it."<ref name="archive.org">{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/autobiographyofb017701mbp|title=The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell 1872 1914|work=Internet Archive|publisher=Little, Brown and company|year=1951}}</ref> Russell felt Lawrence to be a ''positive force for evil''.<ref>[[Bertrand Russell]] ''Portraits from Memory'' (London, Allan and Unwin Ltd) 1956, p. 112.</ref> However, in 1924 Lawrence wrote an epilogue to ''[[Movements in European History]]'' (a textbook he wrote, originally published in 1921) in which he denounced fascism and Soviet-style socialism as bullying and “a"a mere worship of Force”Force". Further, he declared “I"I believe a good form of socialism, if it could be brought about, would be the best form of government.”"<ref>Lawrence, D. H. (1925), ''Movements in European History'', Oxford University Press, p. 262.</ref> In the late 1920s, he told his sister he would vote Labour if he was living back in England.<ref>Maddox, Brenda (1994), ''The Married Man: A Life of D. H. Lawrence'', Sinclair-Stevenson, p. 276. {{ISBN| 978-1856192439}}</ref> In general, though, Lawrence disliked any organized groupings, and in his essay ''Democracy'', written in the late twenties, he argued for a new kind of democracy in which

Lawrence held seemingly contradictory views on feminism. The evidence of his written works, particularly his earlier novels, indicates a commitment to representing women as strong, independent, and complex; he produced major works in which young, self-directing female characters were central. In his youth he supported extending the vote to women, and he once wrote, “All"All women in their natures are like giantesses. They will break through everything and go on with their own lives.”"<ref>Maddox, Brenda (1994), ''The Married Man: A Life of D. H. Lawrence'', Sinclair-Stevenson, p. 123. {{ISBN|978-1856192439}}</ref> However, some feminist critics, notably [[Kate Millett]], have criticised, indeed ridiculed, Lawrence's [[Gender politics|sexual politics]], Millett claiming that he uses his female characters as mouthpieces to promote his creed of male supremacy and that his story ''The Woman Who Rode Away'' showed Lawrence as a pornographic sadist with its portrayal of “human"human sacrifice performed upon the woman to the greater glory and potency of the male.”"<ref>Millett, Kate, 1969 (2000). ''"III: The Literary Reflection". Sexual Politics.'' University of Chicago Press. {{ISBN|0-252-06889-0}}.</ref> [[Brenda Maddox]] further highlights this story and two others written around the same time, ''St. Mawr'' and ''The Princess'', as “masterworks"masterworks of misogyny.”"<ref>Maddox, Brenda (1994) ''The Married Man: A Life of D. H. Lawrence'', Sinclair-Stevenson, pp. 361-365361–365. {{ISBN|978-1856192439}}</ref>

The obituaries shortly after Lawrence's death were, with the exception of the one by [[E. M. Forster]], unsympathetic or hostile. However, there were those who articulated a more favourable recognition of the significance of this author's life and works. For example, his long-time friend [[Catherine Carswell]] summed up his life in a letter to the periodical ''[[Time and Tide (magazine)|Time and Tide]]'' published on 16 March 1930. In response to his critics, she wrote:<blockquote>In the face of formidable initial disadvantages and lifelong delicacy, poverty that lasted for three quarters of his life and hostility that survives his death, he did nothing that he did not really want to do, and all that he most wanted to do he did. He went all over the world, he owned a ranch, he lived in the most beautiful corners of Europe, and met whom he wanted to meet and told them that they were wrong and he was right. He painted and made things, and sang, and rode. He wrote something like three dozen books, of which even the worst page dances with life that could be mistaken for no other man's, while the best are admitted, even by those who hate him, to be unsurpassed. Without vices, with most human virtues, the husband of one wife, scrupulously honest, this estimable citizen yet managed to keep free from the shackles of civilisation and the cant of literary cliques. He would have laughed lightly and cursed venomously in passing at the solemn owls—each one secretly chained by the leg—who now conduct his inquest. To do his work and lead his life in spite of them took some doing, but he did it, and long after they are forgotten, sensitive and innocent people—if any are left—will turn Lawrence's pages and will know from them what sort of a rare man Lawrence was.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I_VaAAAAMAAJ&q=%22owned+a+ranch+he+lived%22+%22formidable+initial%22+%22sort+of+a+rare%22|title=D.H. Lawrence: A Critical Anthology|editor1-last=Coombes|editor1-first=H.|date=1973|publisher=Penguin Educational. p.217|isbn=9780140807929|access-date=24 September 2016}}</ref></blockquote>Aldous Huxley also defended Lawrence in his introduction to a collection of letters published in 1932. However, the most influential advocate of Lawrence's literary reputation was [[Cambridge]] literary critic [[F. R. Leavis]], who asserted that the author had made an important contribution to the tradition of English fiction. Leavis stressed that ''The Rainbow'', ''Women in Love'', and the short stories and tales were major works of art.{{cn|date=December 2024}} Later, the obscenity trials over the unexpurgated edition of ''[[Lady Chatterley's Lover]]'' in America in 1959, and in Britain in 1960, and subsequent publication of the full text, ensured Lawrence's popularity (and notoriety) with a wider public.

*''Husbands and Sons'': A stage play adapted by [[Ben Power]] from three of Lawrence's plays, ''[[The Daughter-in-Law]]'', ''A Collier’sCollier's Friday Night'', and ''[[The Widowing of Mrs Holroyd]]'', which were each based on Lawrence's formative years in the mining community of [[Eastwood, Nottinghamshire|Eastwood]], [[Nottinghamshire]]. ''Husbands and Sons'' was co-produced by the [[ Royal National Theatre |National Theater]] and the [[Royal Exchange, Manchester|Royal Exchange Theater]] and directed by [[Marianne Elliott (director)|Marianne Elliott]] in London in 2015.<ref>{{cite web |title=Husbands & Sons |url=https://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/shows/husbands-sons#production-story |website=National Theatre |date=23 October 2015}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2015/oct/28/husbands-and-sons-review-anne-marie-duff|title=Husbands and Sons review – Anne-Marie Duff shines through violation of DH Lawrence |first=Michael |last=Billington |author-link=Michael Billington (critic) |date=28 October 2015 |publisher=theguardian.com |access-date=9 February 2020}}</ref>

*''The Triumph of the Machine'' (1930; one of [[Faber and Faber]]'s [[Ariel Poems (Faber)|Ariel Poems]] series, illustrated by [[Althea Willoughby]])

*''[[The New Adelphi]]'', June-AugustJune–August 1930 issue, edited by John Middleton Murry. Includes, by Lawrence, ″Nottingham and the Mining Countryside,″ Nine Letters (1918–1919) to Katherine Mansfield, and Selected Passages from non-fiction works. Also includes essays on Lawrence by John Middleton Murry, [[Rebecca West]], [[Max Plowman]], [[Waldo Frank]], and others.

*[[Lev Shestov|Lev Isaakovich Shestov]] ''All Things are Possible'' (1920)

*Berend Klaas van der Veen (1983) ''The Development of D.H. Lawrence's Prose Themes, 1906-19151906–1915'' (Oldenzaal: Offsetdruk)

{{sisterlinkssister project links |wikt=no |s=Author:David Herbert Lawrence |commons=Category:D. H. Lawrence |n=no |b=no |v=no}}

*[https://clio.columbia.edu/catalog/4078881 Alfred M. and Clarisse B. Hellman’sHellman's D.H. Lawrence collection] at [[Columbia University]]