MODERNISM:

D. H. Lawrence (1885-1930)

Good Husbands Make Unhappy Wives

INDEX:

ﻣ Introduction

ﻣ Poem: “Good Husbands Make Unhappy Wives"

ﻣ Analysis of the poem:

1. Title

2. Themes

3. Structure

4. Style

a. Communicative structure

b. Cohesion

c. Lexis and Semantics

d. Rhythm and rhyme

ﻣ Personal interpretation

ﻣ Conclusion

ﻣ Bibliography

Introduction:

The poem I have chosen to analyze is called Good Husbands Make Unhappy Wives, which was included in his Pansies: Poems, published in 1929. So, this was one of his latest works, where he had written lost of poems, he would continue saying that sentimentalism and spontaneity were very important to write. (http://www.enotes.com/twentieth-century-criticism/lawrence-d-h)

The title of the boook, Pansies, does not refer to flowers, but is derived from the French pensees, meaning thoughts -thoughts which, according to Lawrence in his introduction, come "as much from the heart and the genitals as from the head." And in the foreword Lawrence writes: "I wish these 'Pansies' to be taken as thoughts rather than anything else; casual thoughts that are true while they are true and irrelevant when the mood and circumstance changes. I should like them to be as fleeting as pansies, which wilt so soon, and are so fascinating with their varied faces, while they last." (http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/l/d-h-lawrence/pansies.htm)

David Herbert Lawrence (1885-1930), who also wrote under the pseudonym Lawrence H. Davison, used his own life to write not only his fiction but also his poems. He wrote his poems spontaneously, and by the inspiration of the situations that he had lived, and that caused in him very intense feelings. (http://www.enotes.com/twentieth-century-criticism/lawrence-d-h)

Reading the poem, we can see Lawrence talking about the happiness or unhappiness of a married woman, but comparing two different types of husbands: the good husband, and the bad. But, ha says that this bad husband have more capacity to make women happy, although both can make them unhappy. Although that, the unhappiness with the good man could be more disastrous than it with a bad man.

Poem:

Good Husbands Make Unhappy Wives (1929)

Good husbands make unhappy wives

so do bad husbands, just as often;

but the unhappiness of a wife with a good husband

is much more devastating

than the unhappiness of a wife with a bad husband.

(http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/poem/1238.html)

ANALYSIS OF THE POEM:

Title:

The poem is called Good Husbands Make Unhappy Wives, because as the book in which is included, called Pansies: Poems, all his poems and novels were written by the inspiration of the author. He could call this poem in that way because of his own experience or because of his friend’s marriages.

The name of the book Pansies is because of the ephemeral nature of the verse.

Theme:

The main theme of this short poem is the unhappiness of women if they marry with good men; compared to the unhappiness if they marry with bad men.

Structure:

Good Husbands Make Unhappy Wives is a poem that has only one stanza. It is one of Lawrence later free-verse poems. Inside the poem we can see how the author had repeated the title in the first verse:

Good husbands make unhappy wives…

Style:

a. Communicative structure:

The poem has a 3^rd person structure, and we can see it in the only two verbs that appear in the poem: make (l.1), in plural; is (l.4), in singular.

b. Cohesion:

The poem consists of an only one subordinated sentence, joined by the connector: but (l.3).

Although it is a very short poem, there are some rhetorical devices, as for example: repetitions. One of these repetitions is the title that appears in the first verse (as I have said before). But, there are some more repeated words, such as:

good (lines 1 and 3),

bad (lines 2 and 5),

husband (lines 3 and 5),

husbands (lines 1 and 2)

and wife (lines 3 and 5).

Some of them are repeated due to that there is alliteration between lines 3 and 5, in which as we can see here only two words are different:

but the unhappiness of a wife with a good husband (l.3)

than the unhappiness of a wife with a bad husband (l.5)

Apart from that, there are other rhetorical devices, as for example: good (lines 1 and 3), and bad (lines 2 and 5) are antonyms.

The connection between lines 3 and 5 is of comparison, because in line 4 we can see that appears the formula of comparison:

is much more… than

c. Lexis and semantics:

In this poem I have only found one lexical field related to the topic of the family relationships, between the wife and the husband. These two words are repeated many times through the text, in singular and also in plural.

But there are some semantic fields, that some of them are these of the lexical field, as for example:

- Related to the husband: husband (lines 3 and 5), husbands (lines 1 and 3);

- Related to the wife: wives (l. 1), wife (lines 3 and 5);

- Relates to the unhappiness: unhappy (l.1), unhappiness (lines 3 and 5).

d. Rhythm and rhyme:

As I have said in the structure, this poem consists of five verses. But, I have not found any kind of rhyme nor rhythm between them. It is a free-verse poem, the metrical structure that the author used more in his latest days.

PERSONAL INTERPRETATION:

Although it is a very short poem (only 5 verses), there is a lot of information inside it.

In my opinion, through the poem, we can see the way Lawrence tried to give an advice. I think the poem is an advice he gives, both to women and men:

- To women: because women have to choose if they want to marry with a good and well-standing man, because of his good behavior, trying to find happiness with his stability; or, if they want to marry with the man who they really love, although he could be bad;

- To men: because they also have to choose, but in a different way. They have to choose if they want to be good or bad men, having both the mission of making their wives feel good and happy.

I think that what he really wanted was that after reading the poem people think about that and understand that happiness is the best think they have to share with their relatives, specially with their wives.

He says that it is not the same being the unhappy wife of a good husband than the unhappy wife of a bad one. I think he wrote that because bad men are usually more adventurers and they face and overcome all the difficult and dangerous situations they meet.

CONCLUSION:

In conclusion, I have to say that I have chosen this poem because while I was looking for a poem I saw that Lawrence wrote a lot of poems about love; but when I read this poem I get impressed, with this short but meaningful and poem. Lawrence usually uses a thematic organization of his poems, and this poem was included in a book of ephemeral poems.

He only used five verses to write a poem where he is probably telling us how he was. It could be true, because as I have said in the introduction, he always uses his inspiration and shows his feelings through poems, a really good way to talk about personal problems. Yes, I have said personal problems, but because maybe what inspired him on writing this poem was his own problems or maybe, his friends’.

In order to sum up, Lawrence said once that his book, Pansies was no more than the book of his own thoughts, inspired by real or unreal situations (his real words are in the introduction of the paper).

(http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/l/d-h-lawrence/pansies.htm)

BIBLIOGRAPHY

RETURN TO POESIA (FIRST PAPER)