WHY THE NOVEL MATTERS – D.H. LAWRENCE

Notes on Why the Novel Matters by D.H. Lawrence

Why the Novel Matters by DH Lawrence

Explanation of the Essay

D.H. Lawrence begins by challenging the common belief that humans are primarily a soul, mind, or spirit housed within a body. He calls this notion a “funny superstition” and argues that every part of the body is equally alive, as opposed to inanimate objects like a bottle or jug.

Key Ideas:

1. The Unity of the Body and Mind:
   Lawrence questions the distinction between the mind and body, asserting that both are interconnected. For instance, the hand that writes is just as alive and capable of learning as the mind that directs it.

2. The Body as Fully Alive:
   Lawrence emphasizes that every part of the body, from skin to hair, is full of life. Unlike inanimate objects, each part of a living body is interconnected and dynamic.

3. The Novel’s Unique Perspective:

   • A novelist understands and portrays life in its entirety, including both the physical and spiritual dimensions.
   • Philosophers, scientists, and others focus on isolated aspects of life, while novelists depict the "whole man alive."

4. Life and Change:

   • Life is dynamic and ever-changing. Lawrence highlights how humans and their relationships evolve over time.
   • He contrasts living individuals, who embrace change, with those who conform to rigid patterns, effectively becoming “dead” in life.

5. Morality and Relativity:
   Lawrence criticizes absolute notions of right and wrong. He argues that what is right in one situation may be wrong in another, making morality relative.

6. The Novel as a Guide to Life:

   • Novels show how people live authentically and how they deviate from genuine living.
   • A novel helps readers navigate the complexities of life without being bogged down by rigid theories or moral absolutes.

Key Analogy:

Lawrence compares the human body to living skin and blood, contrasting it with inanimate objects like jugs or bottles, which remain lifeless inside and out.

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Summary

In Why the Novel Matters, D.H. Lawrence celebrates the novel as a unique art form that addresses the whole human experience—body, mind, and spirit—unlike philosophy, science, or religion, which focus on isolated aspects of life. He argues against the traditional separation of body and soul, highlighting that life is found in every part of a living being.

Lawrence critiques absolute moral principles, advocating for a perspective that embraces the relativity of right and wrong. He asserts that the novel, by exploring how individuals live and change, surpasses other disciplines in helping people understand life’s unpredictability and complexity.

In his view, the novel is the "bright book of life," surpassing all other forms of knowledge because it captures the wholeness of existence, guiding readers to live authentically and meaningfully.

POEM - HAWK ROOSTING BY Ted Hughes - XI - ELECTIVE ENGLISH

HAWK ROOSTING

SUMMARY

This poem is written as a dramatic monologue and is told from the point of view of a hawk. The hawk details all in nature that is available to him. He perches in the tall trees, sleeping and looking for his prey. He believes all that is around him exists for him and only him. He revels in his predatory nature, fearing nothing and staking his claim on everything. He sees himself as almost god-like; all that is around him is the way it is because he deems it to be that way.

ANALYSIS OF HAWK ROOSTING

The hawk serves as the speaker of this poem; his tone is confident and almost haughty at times, although his belief in his superiority appears to be more steeped in honesty than it does in false bravado. The hawk continuously uses the pronoun “I” throughout the course of the work. Another interesting fact to note about the poem is that Hughes has written it entirely in the present tense, which adds to the sense that the hawk has always been, and will always be, at the top of the food chain.

The poem consists of six stanzas, each containing four lines. There is no set rhyme scheme to the poem, and Hughes relies on free verse in order to convey his themes to his readers.

The first stanza reads:

I sit in the top of the wood, my eyes closed,
Inaction, no falsifying dream
Between my hooked head and hooked feet:
Or in sleep rehearse perfect kills and eat.

Here, the hawk seems to be deep in meditation. He does not feel threatened by anything in the wild, and therefore, he can easily close his eyes and not worry about his surroundings. He is perched in a tree where he can easily look down on the forest he inhabits. Hughes uses interesting diction in this stanza in order to create imagery. He writes, “Between my hooked head and hooked feet…” which emphasizes the dangerous and sharp beak and claws of the bird. In line four, the hawk tells the reader that he is able to perform the perfect kill even in his sleep.

In the second stanza, the hawk conveys to his reader how easy and convenient his life is. Everything in nature, it seems, has been made for the sake of his pleasure and ease. Hughes writes:

The convenience of the high trees! 
The air’s buoyancy and the sun’s ray 
Are of advantage to me; 
And the earth’s face upward for my inspection.

In line five, the hawk seems to be marveling at how much nature has given him; he is so emphatic that he even uses an exclamation point to convey his feelings. The trees are high for him; the air is buoyant, making it easy for him to glide; the sun’s ray gives him warmth. He claims that all of these aspects of nature make his life more convenient. Hughes also creates a parallel between up and down. All is below the hawk; the earth sits below him so that he can inspect it from his perch. This dichotomy reflects the superiority of the hawk.
In the third stanza, Hughes writes, 

My feet are locked upon the rough bark. 
It took the whole of Creation 
To produce my foot, my each feather: 
Now I hold Creation in my foot

In this stanza, the hawk is announcing his perfection to his reader. Again, he draws attention to his sharp claws, stabbing into the tree limb as he perches. He explains that it took Creation—probably capitalized here in order to represent God—everything He possessed in order to produce just one of the hawk’s feet, and each and every feather on his body. This stanza gives an image of a higher power hard at work, slaving over how to create such a great and powerful being. Now, the hawk proclaims, he, himself, is God, more powerful than any being on both Earth and in Heaven.

The fourth stanza is a continuation of the third. It reads,

Or fly up, and revolve it all slowly –
I kill where I please because it is all mine.
There is no sophistry in my body:
My manners are tearing off heads –

The hawk is essentially saying that he can do whatever he pleases. He can fly slowly through the air, taking in all of the sights beneath him. He can kill wherever he pleases because all of the world belongs to him. There is no need to lie or pretend otherwise because the hawk can prove his power by tearing off the heads of his victims.

The fourth stanza does not end neatly; again, Hughes carries the thoughts of the hawk into the fifth stanza, which reads:

The allotment of death. 
For the one path of my flight is direct 
Through the bones of the living. 
No arguments assert my right:

The hawk is so god-like in this stanza that he says he chooses who lives and dies. The one flight he makes is the one he takes to kill his prey. There are no arguments necessary because he is all-powerful.

The sixth and final stanza closes the poem in an absolute way:

The sun is behind me. 
Nothing has changed since I began. 
My eye has permitted no change. 
I am going to keep things like this.

The hawk claims that the world has not changed since he was created. Since then, it has been perfect and permanent. He says it has not changed because he has not allowed it to do so.