The Last Poems of D.H. Lawrence: Shaping a Late Style

In the first book to take D. H. Lawrences Last Poems as its starting point, Bethan Jones adopts a broadly intertextual approach to explore key aspects of Lawrences late style. The evolution and meaning of the poems are considered in relation to Lawrences prose works of this period, including Sketches of Etruscan Places, Lady Chatterleys Lover, and Apocalypse. More broadly, Jones shows that Lawrences late works are products of a complex process of textual assimilation, as she uncovers the importance of Lawrences reading in mythology, cosmology, primitivism, mysticism, astronomy, and astrology. The result is a book that highlights the richness and diversity of his poetic output, also prioritizing the masterpieces of Lawrences mature style which are as accomplished as anything produced by his Modernist contemporaries.