Selected Poems

by Lawrence, D. H.; Fenton, James; Fenton, James; Ricks, Christopher

• ISBN13: 9780140424584
• ISBN10: 014042458X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-05-26
• Publisher: Penguin Classics

Summary

'Softly in the dusk, a woman is singing to me; Talking me back down the vista of years' From early, rhyming works in Love Poems and Others (1913) to the groundbreaking exploration of free verse in Birds, Beasts and Flowers (1923), the poems of D. H. Lawrence challenged convention and inspired later poets. This volume includes extensive selections from these and other editions, and contains some of his most famous poems, such as 'Piano', a nostalgic reflection on lost youth and love for his mother; 'Snake', exploring human fear of the natural world; the short cutting comment on sexual politics of 'Can't Be Borne'; and the quiet philosophical resignation of 'Basta!' Using revised poems, but in the order in which they appeared in their original collection, this selection offers a fresh perspective that reveals an innovative poet who gave voice to his most intense emotions.

Author Biography

D. H. Lawrence (1895-û1930) is the author of the novels The Rainbow, Sons and Lovers, and Lady Chatterley-'s Lover, among others.

James Fenton is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and was Oxford Professor of Poetry from 1994 to 1999.

Christopher Ricks is the William M. and Sara B. Warren Professor of the Humanities at Boston University and a professor of poetry at the University of Oxford.

Table of Contents

From Love Poems and Others (1913)
Cherry Robbers	p. 3
Bei Hennef	p. 3
Violets	p. 4
Whether or Not	p. 6
The Collier's Wife	p. 15
The Drained Cup	p. 17
A Snowy Day in School	p. 20
The Best of School	p. 21
Last Lesson of the Afternoon	p. 22
From Amores (1916)
The Wild Common	p. 27
Discord in Childhood	p. 29
Weeknight Service	p. 29
A Winter's Tale	p. 30
Discipline	p. 31
Scent of Irises	p. 34
Last Words to Miriam	p. 35
Endless Anxiety	p. 36
At the Window	p. 37
Sorrow	p. 37
Brooding Grief	p. 38
Malade	p. 38
From Look! We Have Come Through! (1917)
She Looks Back	p. 43
On the Balcony	p. 46
Frohnleichnam	p. 46
A Young Wife	p. 48
River Roses	p. 49
Gloire de Dijon	p. 49
A Youth Mowing	p. 50
Misery	p. 50
Meeting among the Mountains	p. 51
Spring Morning	p. 53
From New Poems (1918)
Coming Awake	p. 57
Letter from Town: The Almond-Tree	p. 57
Thief in the Night	p. 58
Twofold	p. 58
Piccadilly Circus at Night: Street-Walkers	p. 59
Piano	p. 60
From Bay (1919)
Bombardment	p. 63
Winter-Lull	p. 63
Shades	p. 64
Ruination	p. 65
Nostalgia	p. 65
Tortoises (1921)
Baby Tortoise	p. 69
Tortoise Shell	p. 72
Tortoise Family Connections	p. 74
Lui et Elle	p. 76
Tortoise Gallantry	p. 80
Tortoise Shout	p. 81
From Birds, Beasts and Flowers (1923)
Pomegranate	p. 89
Peach	p. 90
Medlars and Sorb-Apples	p. 91
Figs	p. 93
Grapes	p. 96
Peace	p. 99
Cypresses	p. 100
Bare Fig-Trees	p. 103
Bare Almond-Trees	p. 105
Almond Blossom	p. 106
Purple Anemones	p. 109
Sicilian Cyclamens	p. 112
The Mosquito	p. 114
Bat	p. 117
Man and Bat	p. 119
Snake	p. 125
Turkey-Cock	p. 128
Humming-Bird	p. 132
Eagle in New Mexico	p. 132
The Ass	p. 135
From Pansies (1929)
How Beastly the Bourgeois Is	p. 141
Swan	p. 142
The Noble Englishman	p. 143
Good Husbands Make Unhappy Wives	p. 144
The Elephant is Slow to Mate	p. 145
Self-Pity	p. 146
The Mess of Love	p. 146
Red-Herring	p. 147
The Little Wowser	p. 148
To Women, as Far as I'm Concerned	p. 149
Can't Be Borne	p. 149
Basta!	p. 149
Lizard	p. 150
Conundrums	p. 150
The Saddest Day	p. 151
From Last Poems (1932)
The Greeks are Coming!	p. 155
The Argonauts	p. 155
Middle of the World	p. 156
Maximus	p. 156
Butterfly	p. 157
Bavarian Gentians	p. 158
The Ship of Death	p. 159
From More Pansies (1932)
Image-Making Love	p. 167
The Emotional Friend	p. 167
Intimates	p. 168
The Uprooted	p. 168
In a Spanish Tram-Car	p. 169
Trees in the Garden	p. 169
Storm in the Black Forest	p. 170
Lord Tennyson and Lord Melchett	p. 170
The White Horse	p. 171
Lawrence on Poetry	p. 173
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.