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This was the Weekly Poem for 20 May 2006. We stretched our poetry-reading muscles with five versions of this much longer selection than usual (some 96 lines), in which D.H. Lawrence evokes a gritty yet sensitive picture of urban poverty before the First World War. (Summary by LauraFox)

The Practice of the Presence of God is a collection of letters and transcriptions of conversations, compiled by a disciple of Brother Lawrence. Brother Lawrence was a Carmelite monk and head cook in his monastery's kitchens. He quickly gained an international reputation as a mystic and spiritual counselor. The Practice of the Presence records his last words of advice to his friends and disciples, as he suffered from an unnamed illness which would eventually take his life. (Description written by Kirsten Ferreri.)

<i>The Rainbow</i> is a 1915 novel by British author D.H. Lawrence. It follows three generations of the Brangwen family, particularly focusing on the sexual dynamics of, and relations between, the characters. (Summary from Wikipedia)

LibriVox volunteers bring you 9 different recordings of <em>Everlasting Flowers</em> by D. H. Lawrence.

5Women in Love

By D. H. Lawrence

<em>Women in Love</em> is a novel by British author D. H. Lawrence published in 1920. It is a sequel to his earlier novel <em>The Rainbow</em> (1915), and follows the continuing loves and lives of the Brangwen sisters, Gudrun and Ursula. Gudrun Brangwen, an artist, pursues a destructive relationship with Gerald Crich, an industrialist. Lawrence contrasts this pair with the love that develops between Ursula and Rupert Birkin, an alienated intellectual who articulates many opinions associated with the author. The emotional relationships thus established are given further depth and tension by an unadmitted homoerotic attraction between Gerald and Rupert. The novel ranges over the whole of British society at the time of the First World War and eventually ends high up in the snows of the Swiss Alps. (Summary by Wikipedia)

LibriVox volunteers bring you 10 recordings of <em>A Baby Running Barefoot</em> by D. H. Lawrence. This was the weekly poetry project for the week of September 7th, 2008.

LibriVox volunteers bring you 15 recordings of <em>Listening</em> by D.H. Lawrence. This was the weekly poetry project for December 28th, 2008.

8Trespasser

By D. H. Lawrence

<em>Brief Encounter</em> meets <em>Tristan und Isolde</em> - on the Isle of Wight, under a vast sky florid with stars. The consequence is tragic indeed for one of the parties, Siegmund, when he sacrifices family life for a few days’ transcendent rapture. His lover, the self-contained Helena, is strong enough to bear a return to the scruffy suburbs. Redemption of a kind is granted to the deserted wife, Beatrice. But between these robust Lawrentian women Siegmund is cancelled out. His love-death is no cosmic swoon but a sordid exit in an unkempt box-room. <br /><br />In this very British romance, there is no earthly escape from outworn attachments and life’s deadening routine... (Summary by Martin Geeson)

9Sons and Lovers

By D. H. Lawrence

This intimate portrait of a coal-miner's family fastens on each member in turn: Walter Morel, the collier; Gertrude, his wife; and the children: William, Annie, Arthur, and Paul. When Mrs. Morel begins to be estranged from her husband because of his poor financial sense and his drinking habits, she comes to inhabit the lives of her children - most particularly, her sons. She is determined that they will grow to be something more than men that come home blackened with coal dust every day and roaring with drink every night. As each grows up and moves away, she must release him. But Paul, she holds; they have a bond that defies time and the attractions of young women. <br /><br />Lawrence originally intended the book's title to be "Paul Morel" and it is on this son - and his lovers - that he spends the bulk of his tale. The strong mother can make a success of her son, but if he cannot learn to leave his mother's apron strings, will he really be a better man than his father? (Summary by Mark Smith)

10Prussian Officer

By D. H. Lawrence

The collection of short stories - of which The Prussian Officer is one - was Lawrence’s first such book. A German officer and his orderly are the focus of the piece and, while socially the superior of his orderly, the officer demonstrates his is the distinctly baser character. (Introduction by Cathy Barratt)

Those who have an experiential predisposition in their faith would do well to read <i>The Conversations and Letters of Brother Lawrence</i>… if they have not done so already. This is a lesser-known work, often overlooked. These Spiritual Maxims were manuscripts found amongst the aforementioned Letters and also written by Brother Lawrence himself. The Maxims are different from the letters — the careful arrangement adopted suggests matured thought and the inference is not unreasonable that he intended them to sum up his teachings.<br /><br />The reader apologises for the unworthiness of his delivery… the English itself was difficult enough to read and the ancient punctuation had more commas than full stops. My sometimes stilted delivery is caused by me being partially-sighted and having to read everything in short sections. (Introduction by the reader)

12Ballad of Another Ophelia

By D. H. Lawrence

LibriVox volunteers bring you 16 recordings of the haunting <i>Ballad of Another Ophelia</i> by D. H. Lawrence. This was the Fortnightly Poetry project for March 24, 2013.

13Practice of the Presence of God (version 2)

By Brother Lawrence

Brother Lawrence was born Nicholas Herman around 1610 in Herimenil, Lorraine, a Duchy of France. His birth records were destroyed in a fire at his parish church during the Thirty Years War, a war in which he fought as a young soldier. It was also the war in which he sustained a near fatal injury to his sciatic nerve. The injury left him quite crippled and in chronic pain for the rest of his life.<br /><br /> The details of his early life are few and sketchy. However, we know he was educated both at home and by his parish priest whose first name was Lawrence and who was greatly admired by the young Nicolas. He was well read and, from an early age, drawn to a spiritual life of faith and love for God.<br /><br /> We also know that in the years between the abrupt end of his duties as a soldier and his entry into monastic life, he spent a period of time in the wilderness living like one of the early desert fathers. Also, prior to entering the monastery, and perhaps as preparation, he spent time as a civil servant. In his characteristic, self deprecating way, he mentions that he was a "footman who was clumsy and broke everything".<br /><br /> At mid-life he entered a newly established monastery in Paris where he became the cook for the community which grew to over one hundred members. After fifteen years, his duties were shifted to the sandal repair shop but, even then, he often returned to the busy kitchen to help out.<br /><br /> In times as troubled as today, Brother Lawrence, discovered, then followed, a pure and uncomplicated way to walk continually in God's presence. For some forty years, he lived and walked with Our Father at his side. Yet, through his own words, we learn that Brother Lawrence's first ten years were full of severe trials and challenges.<br /><br /> A gentle man of joyful spirit, Brother Lawrence shunned attention and the limelight, knowing that outside distraction "spoils all". It was not until after his death that a few of his letters were collected. Joseph de Beaufort, representative and counsel to the local archbishop, first published the letters in a small pamphlet. The following year, in a second publication which he titled, 'The Practice of the Presence of God', de Beaufort included, as introductory material, the content of four conversations he had with Brother Lawrence.<br /><br /> In this small book, through letters and conversations, Brother Lawrence simply and beautifully explains how to continually walk with God - not from the head but from the heart. Brother Lawrence left the gift of a way of life available to anyone who seeks to know God's peace and presence; that anyone, regardless of age or circumstance, can practice -anywhere, anytime. Brother Lawrence also left the gift of a direct approach to living in God's presence that is as practical today as it was three hundred years ago.<br /><br /> Brother Lawrence died in 1691, having practiced God's presence for over forty years. His quiet death was much like his monastic life where each day and each hour was a new beginning and a fresh commitment to love God with all his heart. (preface and Wikipedia)

14Aaron's Rod

By D. H. Lawrence

Flutist Aaron Sisson is caught up in the aftermath of WWI. A lost soul, he attempts to find himself in the comfort of bar-room talk and alcohol and a woman. Moving on, he spends time with a mining executive's relatives. But he finds the family a stuffy middle-class lot, bored with each other and themselves. He leaves his wife and children and strikes out for the open road. During a playing engagement at an opera performance, he reunites with the mining executive's family. Talk is of love and war, none of it very satisfying to anyone. At dinner with one of the women, Aaron reveals that he is indifferent to most things in life and just wants to be left alone. So it goes with this lost soul among lost souls. One wonders how he will ever find himself or happiness. - Summary by Bill Boerst

15White Peacock

By D. H. Lawrence

<p>Lawrence’s first novel is set in Nethermere (his name for the real-life Eastwood in Nottinghamshire). The plot is narrated by Cyril Beardsall and focuses in particular on the relationship of his sister Lettie with two admirers, the more handsome and down to earth George and the more effete gentleman Leslie. She eventually marries Leslie although she is sexually attracted to George. George marries the conventional Meg and both marriages end in unhappiness.<br> The countryside of the English midlands is beautifully evoked and there is powerful description also of the impact of industrialisation on both town and country. (Summary by Simon Evers)

16Sons and Lovers (Version 2)

By D. H. Lawrence

Lawrence summarised the plot of Sons and Lovers in a letter to Edward Garnett in 1912: <br /><br /> “It follows this idea: a woman of character and refinement goes into the lower class, and has no satisfaction in her own life. She has had a passion for her husband, so her children are born of passion, and have heaps of vitality. But as her sons grow up she selects them as lovers — first the eldest, then the second. These sons are urged into life by their reciprocal love of their mother — urged on and on. But when they come to manhood, they can't love, because their mother is the strongest power in their lives, and holds them...” <br /><br /> The present reader tells the story in his authentic regional English, featuring the East Midlands dialect used by Lawrence in the more intimate exchanges between characters. (Summary prepared by Martin Geeson.)

17Rainbow (Version 2)

By D. H. Lawrence

Briefly appearing in 1915, then banned and taken out of circulation for its adult treatment of sexuality, Lawrence's visionary novel <i>The Rainbow</i> attempts to situate the lives of three generations of the Brangwen family within the continuous social change marking the Victorian transformation of Britain. Farmer Tom and his Polish wife Lydia, whose peaceful rural existence re-enacts the potent myths of Genesis; artisan Will and the matriarch Anna, who go to live among the industrial and mining communities so rapidly sprung up around Nottingham; finally the restless Ursula who, moving to the city, seeks sexual and emotional fulfilment with the Polish-descended Skrebensky - the three couples are not merely illustrative of the changing times, but allow the author to study in depth the conflict between the outer 'social' selves of those individuals and what he curiously calls the 'inhuman' essential being, the 'is-ness' at the core of their psychical life. <br><br>Lawrence evokes this dark, unconscious 'vital core' through a language of breathtaking poetic beauty; a rhythmic incantatory prose which listeners to this recording will find perfectly rendered by Tony Foster, in all its nuances. Like Paul Morel, the hero of the earlier <i>Sons and Lovers</i>, Ursula survives her losses to face a future of uncertain but radiant hope: <i>"She saw in the rainbow the earth's new architecture, the old, brittle corruption of houses and factories swept away, the world built up in a living fabric of Truth, fitting to the over-arching heaven."</i> (Summary by Martin Geeson)

18Lost Girl

By D. H. Lawrence

"There is no mistake about it, Alvina was a lost girl. She was cut off from everything she belonged to." <br /><br /> In this most under-valued of his novels, Lawrence once again presents us with a young woman hemmed in by her middle-class upbringing and (like Ursula Brangwen in The Rainbow) longing for escape. Alvina Houghton's plight, however, is given a rather comic and even picaresque treatment. Losing first her mother, a perpetual invalid, and later her cross-dressing father, a woefully ineffectual small-scale entrepreneur, Alvina feels doomed to merge with the tribe of eternal spinsters who surround her in the dreary mining community of Woodhouse. <br /><br /> Into this drab environment enter the Natcha-Kee-Tawara: a polyglot, poly-amorous troupe of travelling players united, on- and off-stage, in a fantasy of Native American nomadism. Enter Ciccio, the surly dark-eyed horseman. The Italian's potent and threatening physicality overwhelms Alvina and soon will propel her into - what? Perdition, or the paradoxical freedom of a girl who 'like(s) being lost'?<br />(Summary by Martin Geeson)

19Sea and Sardinia

By D. H. Lawrence

A travel book describing a journey taken by Lawrence and his wife Frieda (whom he refers to as the Queen Bee) by sea from Sicily to Sardinia and then in the interior of that island ( Anthony Ogus)

20Amores: Poems

By D. H. Lawrence

Amores is one of D. H. Lawrence's earliest works of poetry, published in 1916, was a precursor to his delving in free verse in later collections. The poems in this collection are characterized by haunting and dark themes, sensuousness and his controversial dealing with sexual topics. (Anusha Iyer)

21Little Dramas for Primary Grades

By Lillian Nixon Lawrence and Ada M. Skinner

37 short and very short plays for young children - David O<br /><br /> <b>Readers:</b></br> <b><a href="https://librivox.org/reader/5796">Linette Geisel</a>:</b> Camel(1), Big Black Dog(2), First Child(4), Camel(5), Grandma(6), Red Fox(11), Child(12), First Pig(13), Mrs. Dove(14), Third Chick(15), Littlest Fir Tree(16), French Doll(17), Mary(19), Camel(20), Sparrow(21), Mrs. Sparrow(22), Sheep(23), Little Tree(24), Columbine(25), Rose(26), Lobster(28), Jellyfish(29), Flowers(33), Sanja(34), Tree(35), Camel(36)<br> <b><a href="https://librivox.org/reader/10789">Tomas Peter</a>:</b> Lion(1), Odd Man(2), Lion(5), Fisherman(8), Hans(11), Fifth Pig(13), Mr. Jay(14), First Chick(15), Santa Claus(16), Tin Soldier(17), Old Year(19), Man(20), Thrush(21), Mr. Sparrow(22), Cow(23), Woodcutter(24), Spring(25), Fir Tree(26), Hunter(27), Tom(28), Turtle(29), Gluck(31), Black Bear(33), Third Lord Jizu(34), Brahman(35), Elephant(36)<br> <b><a href="https://librivox.org/reader/11371">sashelliott</a>:</b> Jackal(1), Elephant(5), Fourth Pig(13), Second Mouse(17), Tiger(20), Blackbird(21), Second Child(22), Yellow-breast(23), Mountain(26), Tiger(27), First Fish(29), Third Child(33), Road(35)<br> <b><a href="https://librivox.org/reader/10615">Twinkle</a>:</b> Elephant(1), Second Child(4), Sheep(5), Second Pib(13), Child(14), Big Fir Tree(16), First Mouse(17), Fern(22), Hen(23), Elm(26), Little Fish(29), Robin(33), Second Lord Jizu(34), Tiger(35)<br> <b><a href="https://librivox.org/reader/6281">Beth Thomas</a>:</b> Mother Deer(1), Owl(3), Old Mouse(9), Mother Hen(15), Mrs. Santa Claus(17), Bird(26), Queen Osa(29), Spring(33), Jackal (35), Fox(36)<br> <b><a href="https://librivox.org/reader/10614">Leanne Yau</a>:</b> Bunny Rabbit(1), Bird(7), Fox(10), Gretchen(11), Lady Moon(12), Magpie(21), Violet(22), Boastful Bamboo(24), Sparrow(32), Lion(36)<br> <b><a href="https://librivox.org/reader/11305">Craig Franklin</a>:</b> True(2), Fourth Mouse(9), Little Calf(30), Little Old Gentleman(31), Ogre(34)<br> <b><a href="https://librivox.org/reader/10179">Sonia</a>:</b> Grasshopper(3), Lizard(6), Crow(10), Sixth Pig(13), Lion(17), Pussy(19), Crocus (22), Crow (23), Boy(24), Pantaloon(25), Fox(27), Third Fish(29), Child(32), Rabbit(33), Tiger(36), Traveler(37)<br> <b><a href="https://librivox.org/reader/7356">Rachel</a>:</b> Timid Hare(5), Mabel(6), Maiden(7), Second Mouse(9), Third Pig(13), Starling(21), Pussy Willow(22), Bobolink(23), Girl(24), Daisy(26), First Monkey(29), Squirrel(33), Child(37)<br> <b><a href="https://librivox.org/reader/8368">A LibriVox Volunteer</a>:</b> Deer(5), Little Fish(8), Child(13), Baby Miss(14), Second Chick(15), Little Bird(16), Elephant(17), Wiseman(20), Turtledove(21), Little Girl(30)<br> <b><a href="https://librivox.org/reader/11180">Diane Alailima</a>:</b> Brother Hare(5), Little Fir Tree(16), Jack-in-the-box(17), Little Boy(23), Second Fish(29), Trees(33), Lord Jizu(34), Buffalo(35)<br> <b><a href="https://librivox.org/reader/10995">April6090</a>:</b> Wolf(6), Woolly Dog(17), New Year(19), Wise Owl(21), Dog(23), Second Monkey(29), Fox(33)<br> <b><a href="https://librivox.org/reader/9291">SuperCoconut</a>:</b> Third Mouse(9)<br> <b><a href="https://librivox.org/reader/7079">Chuck Williamson</a>:</b> Tiger(17), Cuckoo(23), Third Monkey(29), Thrush(33)<br> <b><a href="https://librivox.org/reader/10245">Abby</a>:</b> Mary(22), First Child(33)<br> <b><a href="https://librivox.org/reader/1472">Sarah Jennings</a>:</b> Second Child(33)<br> <br> <b>Narrated by:</b> <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/6065">David Olson</a><br> <b>Edited by:</b> <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/6065">David Olson</a>, <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/10789">Tomas Peter</a>, <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/7356">Rachel</a>, <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/8368">A LibriVox Volunteer</a>, <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/5796">Linette Geisel</a>, <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/7079">Chuck Williamson</a>

22Love Poems and Others

By D. H. Lawrence

This is a collection of poems by DH Lawrence. Most of the poems concern love and neighboring emotions, but some poems also concern other themes. - Summary by Carolin

23Afternoon in School - the last lesson

By D. H. Lawrence

David Herbert Lawrence was an English novelist, poet, playwright, essayist, literary critic and painter. His collected works represent, among other things, an extended reflection upon the dehumanising effects of modernity and industrialisation. Some of the issues Lawrence explores are sexuality, emotional health, vitality, spontaneity, and instinct. - Summary by Wikipedia

24Tortoises

By D. H. Lawrence

Tortoises is a collection of six poems by D.H. Lawrence inspired by his observation of tortoises going about their business, wild in the landscape of his home. They reveal something about tortoises, about the man watching them, and perhaps about the relationship of each with nature, where they dwell and develop through a lifetime, interconnected. - Summary by Amy Gramour

The superb skill and dexterity of D.H. Lawrence, a writer who profoundly influenced the literature of the twentieth century, is very evident in this collection of poems conceived during the years of The Great War. Lawrence, living a semi-nomadic lifestyle in England throughout these years, seized the opportunity to write of events and their effects from an objective but by no means dispassionate perspective.<br><br> Indeed the passion of Lawrence while attempting to understand the collective motivation of mankind in the name of wartime vengeance is very evident throughout this work, manifesting itself in poems of deep analytical insight, clarity of thought and Lawrence's characteristic rage against the dehumanization of his fellow man - exhibited here by the predominance of the war machine and profusely mirrored by its regimentation, united malevolence and resulting horrors of conflict. <br><br> In addition, Lawrence's unsurpassed poetic skill vividly portrays the wartime vulnerability of the British homeland as "a flat red lily with a million petals", unfolding and meeting its doom as "a dark bird falls from the sun"; marching soldiers are depicted by Lawrence as, "advancing as water towards a weir"; while the "coiled, convulsive throes of this marching" is described as adopting a universality typical of soldiers everywhere, advancing while never knowing their eventual fate nor where or when it will be met. <br><br> These poems, these vignettes of a nation engulfed in war, these masterworks of color on a canvas of bewilderment form an important contribution to the literature of World War I and exhibit an essential facet of D.H. Lawrence the man - the brilliant wordsmith whose portrayal of the human condition is unsurpassed in its honesty and candor.<br> - Summary by Bruce Kachuk

26Kangaroo

By D. H. Lawrence

"Kangaroo" is the nickname of a character in this novel, Benjamin Cooley, who was a charismatic leader in the fascist movement of ex-soldiers who fought in the Australian army in WWII. The story's main character is an international journalist, Richard Lovat Somers who, with his wife, comes to rent a house next door to Jack Calcott and his wife who are natural-born Australians through-and-through. Jack is in league with Kangaroo and tries to persuade Lovat to join their political movement conflicting with the Socialist political faction in the country. Throughout this book, there is an undercurrent of vaguely defined "Generalized Love" which borders closely on homosexuality between the otherwise testosterone-saturated Australian men. Action-wise: There are riots and gunfights; but there are also moments of great tenderness of the men for their wives. Both Jack and Lovat dearly want to become "leaders of men", but Lovat backs away when he is recruited to join in an espionage campaign against the Socialists. Another undercurrent which muddies the waters for Lovat is that he is a true British citizen and thus resented by the Australians. (Summary by williamjones)

27Touch and Go

By D. H. Lawrence

A man is speaking to a group of colliers in a small mining village. They have decided that they have had enough of the way they are treated and decide to go on strike. A battle of wills ensues. Summary by Michele Eaton <BR><BR> Cast List <BR><BR> Narrator: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/14297">Scarbo</a><br> Gerald: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/14540">Andrew Gaunce</a><br> Voice 1: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/15016">Kathi M. Walsheck</a><br> Mrs Barlow: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/14467">Diane Castillo</a><br> Oliver Turton: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/8677">KHand</a><br> Mr Barlow: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/14426">Andrew James</a><br> Job Arthur: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/7170">Alan Mapstone</a><br> Winifred: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/14424">Shreya Sethi</a><br> Anabel: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/13140">Jenn Broda</a><br> Willie Houghton: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/12980">Wayne Cooke</a><br> Eva: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/14476">Lily</a><br> William the Butler and Collier: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/10542">David Purdy</a><br> Clerks and Voice: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/15239">Zach Hoyt</a><br> Breffitt and Voice: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/7079">Chuck Williamson</a><br> Voices: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/7026">Michele Eaton</a><br>

28Widowing of Mrs Holroyd

By D. H. Lawrence

Mrs. Holroyd is married to a loutish miner, who drinks, apparently patronizes prostitutes, and apparently brutalizes her. When a gentlemanly neighbor makes romantic advances to her, she wishes her husband dead. - Summary by Michele Eaton <BR><BR>Cast List:<BR> Stage Directions: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/14297">Scarbo</a><br> Jack: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/8425">silverquill</a><br> Clara: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/14467">Dtcastid</a><br> Blackmore: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/8677">MrsHand</a><br> Mrs Holroyd: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/13717">EltonTheSnowman</a><br> Holroyd: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/7170">alanmapstone</a><br> Minnie: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/14424">shreyasethi</a><br> Grandmother: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/4174">Availle</a><br> Manager: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/6754">ToddHW</a><br> Rigley: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/7170">alanmapstone</a><br> First Bearer: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/10542">Salvationist</a><br> Laura: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/11059">LaurenEmma3</a><br> Second Bearer: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/7079">ChuckW</a><br>

29Rainbow (Version 3)

By D. H. Lawrence

The Rainbow is the story of three generations of the Brangwen family, a sexual and religious collection of incidents that eventually shows the inertia of an individual consciousness to outgrow the commonplace and embrace the reality that lies beyond it. Throughout the novel, including its setting, the characters are being isolated because of their deviation from a conformist English society in a changing, steadily industrializing world. - Summary by shreyasethi

30Twilight in Italy

By D. H. Lawrence

This is one of the author's "travel books", recounting his walking journeys in and around the Lago di Garda in Northern Italy. Every turn prompts musings on the nature and character of the people he encounters and their relationship to the land which they inhabit. His insights, while sometimes condescending, show elements of Lawrence's analysis of the human condition, and his despair over the relentless erosion of a bucolic environment with the advance of modernism. - Summary by Peter Tucker

31England, My England

By D. H. Lawrence

A book of ten short stories, written with Lawrence's typical sensibility to and awareness of social mores, set around the period of the First World War - Summary by Anthony Ogus

32Morning Work

By D. H. Lawrence

LibriVox volunteers bring you 15 recordings of Morning Work by D. H. Lawrence.<br> This was the Weekly Poetry project for August 15, 2021. <br> ------<br> This Weekly poem is taken from Love Poems and Others by D. H. Lawrence (1913)(Summary by David Lawrence )

33Magic of the Horse-Shoe

By Robert Means Lawrence

The study of the origin and history of popular customs and beliefs affords an insight, otherwise unattainable, into the operations of the human mind in early times. Superstitions, however trivial in themselves, relics of paganism though they be, and oftentimes comparable to baneful weeds, are now considered proper subjects for scientific research. While the ignorant savage is a slave to many superstitious fancies which dominate his every action, the educated man strives to be free from such a bondage, yet recognizes as profitable the study of those same beliefs. The heterogeneous character of the material drawn from so many sources has rendered it difficult, if not impossible, to follow any distinctly systematic treatment of the subject. However, the development in recent years of a widespread interest in all branches of folk-lore warrants the hope that any volume devoted to this subject, and representing somewhat diligent research, may have a certain value, in spite of its imperfections. The expert folklorist may find much to criticize; but this book, treating of popular beliefs, is intended for popular reading. It has been the writer’s aim to make the chapter on the Horse-Shoe as exhaustive as possible, as this attractive symbol of superstition does not appear to have received hitherto the attention which it merits. - Summary by Robert Means Lawrence

This is an exceptional collection of superb and introspectively distinct poems from the pen of master author D. H. Lawrence. Never failing to both delight and amaze, Lawrence's poems exhibit an insight that elevates them to a level of splendid uniqueness. These are poems that come from the heart and mind of one who has watched the unspeakable destruction of war wreak havoc across Europe, one who has witnessed the devastation inflicted on his country by an immense power that must be overcome and defeated. This is a also a poet who knows that despite unimaginable privation, everyday life must and will continue, and everyday psychological trauma must and will continue - and as such both must and will be eternally etched by the poet in the literary record. <br><br> These are poems of the present, of facets of human existence in all its diversity, of aspects of life revealed with an intensity fitting their urgency. The urgency and resilience of life - the determination to persevere in the face of adversity - ebbs and flows through these superb poems like the narrative of a river whose, "invisible tide / Threads and thrills like ore that is wealth to the eye." And yet this pseudo-sentient river, this "pouring measure / Of death-producing wine," solemnly comes with the poetic assurance of salvation, of elegiac deliverance, and with the promise, "By heaven and earth and hellish stream / To break this sick and nauseous dream / We writhe and lust in, both." <br><br> Indeed, if a dream it is in which we "writhe and lust," if "souls of the dead / In stupor persist at the gates of life," it is a dream fully understood and clearly elucidated by this poet, this seer, this literary master. <br> - Summary by Bruce Kachuk<br>

35Studies in Classic American Literature

By D. H. Lawrence

The staid academic title belies the freewheeling prose of D.H. Lawrence's essays, which are as contrarian, penetrating, and sometimes unpalatable as one might expect from the author. "America has never been easy, and is not easy to-day. Americans have always been at a certain tension." - Summary by Kazbek

36School on the Outskirts

By D. H. Lawrence

LibriVox volunteers bring you 15 recordings of School on the Outskirts by D. H. Lawrence.<br> This was the Weekly Poetry project for October 8, 2023. <br> ------<br> Our Weekly poem is taken from NEW POEMS by D. H. Lawrence (1918) - Summary by David Lawrence

Revolt in the Desert (1924) is a personal account by T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) of the 2 year Arab Revolt during the Great War. Beginning with the rout of King Feisal’s army by the Turks at Medina in 1916, it follows the campaign through to the fall of Damascus in 1918. As the Turks fled northwards, Feisal’s irregular cavalry entered Damascus unopposed, and “the Eastern war, perhaps the whole war, drew to a close”. <br> The book is an abridgement of his 1919 opus, Seven Pillars of Wisdom, which Winston Churchill described as a “treasure of the English language”, noting that “If Lawrence had never done anything except write this book as a mere work of the imagination his fame would last - to quote Macaulay’s hackneyed phrase - ‘as long as the English language is spoken in any quarter of the globe’…But it is fact, not fiction”. A gripping history of the Arab Insurgency - it tells the story of the Imperial Camel Corps, intrigues within the British Intelligence Services, the courage of the RAF, the sacrifices of the Ghurka and Indian infantry, and the long and bitter campaign that did so much to make the face of the modern Middle East - Summary by ASharma

In the years following World War I, Connie Chatterley finds that she is unhappy in her marriage. She begins a cross-class relationship with her gamekeeper, Oliver Mellors. Content warning: This book contains explicit language. (Summary by Scarbo)

39Prophet

By D. H. Lawrence

LibriVox volunteers bring you 18 recordings of The Prophet by D.H. Lawrence.<br> This was the Weekly Poetry project for January 21, 2024. <br> ------<br> This short piece is a picturesque description of society's hesitation to accept new innovation or progress. - Summary by TriciaG

40Malade

By D. H. Lawrence

LibriVox volunteers bring you 13 recordings of Malade by D. H. Lawrence.<br> This was the Fortnightly Poetry project for July 7, 2024. <br> ------<br> 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". - Summary by Wikipedia

41Love Poems

By D. H. Lawrence

"Love Poems and Others" was D. H. Lawrence's first book of poetry published in 1913. (Summary by Alan Mapstone)

42New Poems (Version 2)

By D. H. Lawrence

D. H. Lawrence's poetry changed stylistically during the First World War when, influenced by Walt Whitman, he began to write free verse. 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." (Summary by Alan Mapstone and the Introduction)

43Piano

By D. H. Lawrence

LibriVox volunteers bring you 14 recordings of Piano By D. H. Lawrence.<br> This was the Weekly Poetry project for July 6, 2025. <br> ------<br> David Herbert Lawrence was an English novelist, short story writer, poet, playwright, literary critic, travel writer, essayist, and painter. His modernist works reflect on modernity, social alienation and industrialization, while championing sexuality, vitality and instinct. The English novelist and critic E. M. Forster, in an obituary notice, described him as "the greatest imaginative novelist of our generation". (Summary by Wikipedia)