Aaron's Rod

Amores is a collection of more than 50 poems published in 1916. The title speaks elegantly of old loves, those that might have been, those desired and those undesired. Lawrence wrote Amores at a crucial time, when he was struggling to relaunch his career after the banning of The Rainbow.

This collection is the first of his forays into free verse. The poems in it are characterized by themes of sensuality, sexuality, frustrated desire and lovers' conflict, with statements about love and its various manifestations.

Some of his poems are: The Wild Common, Monologue Of A Mother, A Baby Running Barefoot, Last Words To Miriam, Restlessness, The End, Drunk, and Snap-Dragon, the latter perhaps the most quoted poem in the volume, in which a snap-dragon flower found in a garden during a lovers' walk becomes both a victim of cruelty and an instrument of intimidation.

England, My England and Other Stories is a collection of short stories written by D. H. Lawrence between 1913 and 1921.

In them, the author extols the wonders of rural, pastoral England that have been lost over time due to industrialization and the unhealthy politics of a country at the outbreak of the First World War.

The story is set in the years leading up to the Great War of 1914, considered by some to be an idyllic time of sunshine and peace before everything was shattered by the mechanized war of 1914-1918.

The family is in an idealized setting, deep in the English countryside, but there are snakes in this Garden of Eden. There is conflict between man and wife, accentuated by the accident of a child, and there is a seemingly purposeless life led by the husband. The story vibrates with the eugenic theories popular at the time, but the conflicts are finally resolved by the horror of war.

Fantasia of the Unconscious was written in 1922. It is a reflection on the nature of our consciousness and also of the subconscious. Lawrence also refers to his somewhat controversial ideas about the workings of the world, the sex drive, marriage, society and politics.

He also sets out how he believes children should be brought up: not by giving them unconditional love, but by leaving them virtually alone to discover life for themselves, to do so through their own senses and level of consciousness, not those of their parents. This is related to another of his ideas: Don't let other people's ideals supplant your own.

Some of Lawrence's stances may be considered outdated or sexist, especially those relating to gender roles and identity, however, when you consider that it is a work that represents the thinking of a bygone era there is much to reflect on and enjoy.

This is Lawrence's third book of poems, first published in 1917. According to the author, these poems are not to be considered separately, but as a whole, and together they constitute an account of one man's experience during the crisis of manhood, which could also be considered an autobiography or confession disguised as verse.

It consists of 60 poems charged mainly with regret and frustration - recurring themes for Lawrence - and often seem to be addressed to his wife and himself at the same time. He also seems to recreate his memories of happy and endearing moments.

Among the poems included in Look! We Have Come Through!, we can mention: Moonrise, Martyr à la Mode, Hymn to Priapus, She Looks Back, In the Dark, A Young Wife, Gloire de Dijon, Rose of All the World, Forsaken and Forlorn.

Sons and Lovers is a 1913 novel, often considered Lawrence's finest achievement. The story begins with Gertrude, a sophisticated woman who ends up marrying a miner and they have 4 children, William, Paul, Arthur and Annie. The marriage is terrible, as her husband is a drunkard and an abuser.

Most of the book focuses on Paul, who as an adult has a stifling relationship with his mother, as she is very demanding, which makes him feel repulsed by her but at the same time afraid to leave her. It also presents us with his emotional conflicts with two very different lovers.

When Paul begins a relationship with Miriam, he resists in part because his mother disapproves. And after pressuring her for a physical relationship, which ends up being unsatisfactory, Paul breaks up with her by becoming intimate with another woman, Clara, but even she cannot keep him and he returns to his mother.