Download An inference about the influence of Christianity

保健医療経営大学紀要　№ 2　15 ～ 21（2010）
＜研究ノート (Research Note) ＞
An inference about the influence of Christianity on
Lawrence’s earlier poems
小手川　巧光 *
要　旨
人間の本質や人生の意味と無関係には存在し得ないという点で文学と宗教は密接な関わりを持っている．それどこ
ろか古今東西全ての文明や文化が宗教を土台に大量の文学を生み出してきたと言っても過言ではない．西洋文学につ
いても，その全てがキリスト教という土壌から生え出た木々であり花々であると言える．西洋全体がキリスト教文
化圏にすっぽり属していることを考えれば至極当然のことである．イギリス文学も例外ではなく，時代やジャンル
を超えて全ての作家がキリスト教の影響を強く受けている．しかし，その影響の受け方は作家によって千差万別であ
る．ジョージ・エリオット (George Eliot，1819 - 1880)[1] やアルフレッド・テニスン (Alfred Tennyson, 1809 - 1892)
[2] のように，敬虔なクリスチャン家庭に生まれながら，一度は信仰を捨て無神論的人生を歩んだ後，最終的にはキ
リスト教に回帰し積極的に親キリスト教的著作活動を展開した作家がいる一方で，D.H. ローレンス (David Herbert
Richards Lawrence 1885 ‐ 1930)[3] のように母親の熱心なクリスチャン教育にもかかわらず，徐々にキリスト教か
ら離れ，世界各地の土着宗教の影響を受けつつ，反キリスト教的作品を多く残した作家も存在する．本研究ノートで
は，そのローレンスの残した大量の詩の一部を鑑賞・考察することにより，キリスト教が彼の人生や思想に及ぼした
影響や，信仰変遷の背景を探ることに主眼を置いた．本紀要創刊号 (No.1 181~183 2009) 掲載の拙著“The Shift of C.S.
Lewis’s Writing Perspective in His Later Life”とは一見方向性の違うものと取られがちかもしれないが，どちらも
作家の思想的変遷が作品に及ぼす影響を考察する点で一致しており，それらの作品群に滲出する宗教の本質を探ると
いう今後の研究テーマに即するものである．
Keywords：文学，英文学，近代イギリス文学，宗教文学
He explained the primary reason, saying,“It seems to
me much more important that we should have what
Introduction
the young man actually wrote at twenty-two than
As seen in the title, the main purpose of this
what Lawrence at forty-two ( a much better poet, but
thesis is to infer about the influence of Christianity on
a different man with a different demon )thought he
D.H. Lawrence’s earlier poems, using the first half of
should have written.”[SP 12] It is reasonable to take
a Lawrence’s poetry collection[Selected Poetry ]. The
into account the literary form of poetry whose large
editor of the collection is Keith Sagar[4], who collected
part is occupied by emotion and sensitivity, because
Lawrence’s poems as they were before being modified.
,whether a poem’s theme is nature or love affairs, the
In fact, Lawrence made a lot of improvements on his
poet’s feeling and sensibility influence the process of
poems he wrote when he was younger. For example,
composing the poem greatly and are reflected on his
quite a few poems greatly modified appeared in
wording. So if time passes and you move apart from
Collected Poems (1928). Sagar, however, dared to
the original specific theme, the feeling and sensibility
adopt original poems which had not been modified.
will surely change and you can no longer rewrite the
* 保健医療経営大学保健医療経営学部　助教，修士（経済学）
E-mail：[email protected]
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小手川　巧　光
poem with the same feeling and sensibility.
Those Biblical and Christian lessons, however,
The second feature of Selected Poetry is that
do not seem to have born fruit in him favorably. The
it carries the original poems in chronological order.
conflict between his parents and his doting mother’s
They, of course, appeared in such collections Lawrence
overprotective education affected his inner growth and
himself edited, as Love Poems and Others (1913) and
may have deprived him of the capacity to accept the
Amores (1916). Sagar chose good poems from such
strict Christian education. His parents“ got married
collections and put them in chronological order.
loving each other seriously, but the happy time did
This challenge must be very valuable. It is not only
not last long. Because the virtues they found in each
because you can see the process of Lawrence’s
other gradually came to be causes for their conflicts
poetic skill development but also because you can
after their marriage. Arthur John was a heavy drinker
trace his philosophical journey. I would like to pay
and a pessimistic coal miner with a frank spirit and
special attention to his connection with the Bible and
a physical energy while Lydia, who was educated
Christianity. I will take up some of the poems written
to a stoic and uncompromising Methodist, could not
during the period from 1906 to 1911 and try to infer
abandon her confidence and pride of being a member
about the connection.
of Middle Class and was a highbrow person who forced
her children to speak King’s English instead of dialects.
Their conflicts had lasted until Lydia died and formed
Lawrence’s youth background and Christianity
Lawrence’s character which played an important part
In the opening page of D.H. Lawrence and the
Bible, there is a short article introducing the author
in his writing career”[BDP 5]. And also regarding
T.R. Wright and D.H. Lawrence. The first sentence of
might have been one of the women who influenced
the article says,“The Bible, as this book demonstrates,
Lawrence most. The less her affection toward her
plays a key role in nearly all D.H. Lawrence’
s work”
[DB
husband became, the bigger her love for Lawrence
ⅰ ]. Though everyone agrees that Western writers are,
grew as if she loved her husband. This strong tie made
more or less, influenced by Christianity, the influence
it difficult for him to love other women in a real sense
Lawrence received was so big that Wright said,“a key
and hindered him from standing his own feet”[BDP
role in nearly all”. One of the reasons is that he had a
7]. So if the things such as love and independence
habit of going to church when he was young enough to
Christian education emphasizes were undermined in
be easily influenced, which may also be true of many
him, it may be natural for him to see such teaching as
Western writers. Strictly speaking, you have to say he
repugnant and even feed hostility against Christianity.
was made to do so by his mother, Lydia(1851-1910), an
Prof. Iida referred to Lawrence’s inner change and
earnest educator. Takeo Iida[5] says,“Lydia was given
said,“ he gradually grew skeptical against European
strict education from her father who was an enthusiastic
Christian civilization and got to seek more vivid and
Methodist[6] in a local family of typical middle-class”
powerful things beyond it” [BDP 14]. I think that
[BDP 4]. His father, Arthur John(1846-1924),“would
the change can also be recognized by comparing the
often sing hymns as a member of the choir, but after
differences between the earlier poems and later poems
moving to Eastwood, he went to a Congregational
or surveying the details in the modification process he
Chapel[7] only once in a while, while Lydia was very
did.
his doting mother’s overprotective education,“Lydia
eager to attend the activities in the same chapel”[BDP
5]. So you can surmise that Lawrence, born in 1885,
Influences recognized clearly
was regularly taken to church by Lydia and attended
worship services and church schools every Sunday.
Among Lawrence’s earlier poems, you can find
There he must have been densely exposed to good
here and there the influences he got from Christian
Bible studies, hymns, sermons and prayers. Probably
church and the Bible. Let me introduce here one of
he sung his favorite hymns again and again, learned a
such examples. It is from the poem Dreams Old and
lot of Bible verses by heart and offered a great deal of
Nascent (1916)[8], especially 4th, 5th and 8th stanzas
out of the second half Nascent.
prayer to God.
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An inference about the influence of Christianity on Lawrence’s earlier poems
“which image of God / My man is made toward”in the
4th Stanza
Here in the subtle, rounded flesh
1st and 2nd lines reminds us of the Bible verses below.
Beats the active ecstasy.
In the sudden lifting my eyes, it is clearer,
And God said, Let us make man in our image,
The fascination of the quick, restless Creator
after our likeness･･･God created man in
moving through the mesh
his own image, in the image of God created
Of men, vibrating in ecstasy through the
he him; male and female created he them.
rounded flesh.
(Gen.1:26-27 King James Version)
5th Stanza
Oh my boys, bending over your books,
“I shall know my bitter rod / Or my rich reward”also
In you is trembling and fusing
makes us remember the well-known Bible verses that
The creation of a new-patterned dream, dream
are most frequently quoted for sermons and devotional
of a generation:
books. The verses are,
And I watch to see the Creator , the power
Yea, though I walk through the valley of
that patterns the dream.
8th Stanza
the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for
Oh the great mystery and fascination of the
thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they
unseen Shaper ,
comfort me.(Psalms 23:4 King James Version)
The power of the melting, fusing Force —heat,
light, all in one,
Those verses, Gensis 1:26-27 and Psalms 23, must
Everything great and mysterious in one,
have been quite familiar ones to Lawrence so that he
swelling and shaping the dream in the flesh,
could recite them. It is not impossible to infer that the
As it swells and shapes a bud into blossom.
image of them had some influences on the process
of producing the poems and, whether consciously
Because the bold italicized words all have capitalized
or unconsciously, let him apply them into his works
initials, you must naturally associate those with God’s
specifically.
names expressing His attributes. Creator in the 4th
and 5th stanzas and Shaper in the 8th stanza make
Change of influence
us picture God who created all things in the universe
and Force in the 8th stanza almighty God respectively.
Stated above, interesting materials to surmise are
Lawrence himself probably should have been familiar
given by comparing the differences between the earlier
with these wording through Sunday schools and
poems and later poems or examining the details in the
worship services.
modification process.
Let us also examine the following lines of Wedding
Morn, which originally appeared in Love Poems and
Others (1913).
A poem titled Corot taken from Love Poems and
Others was largely modified later. Let us see some
original lines related to the later modification, 3rd, 4th,
7th, and 8th stanzas.
3rd Stanza
Then I shall know which image of God
3rd stanza
My man is made toward,
The grey, phosphorescent, pellucid advance
And I shall know my bitter rod
Of the luminous purpose of God shines out
Or my rich reward.
Where the lofty trees athwart stream chance
And I shall know the stamp and worth
To shake flakes of its shadow about.
Of the coin I've accepted as mine,
Shall see an image of heaven or of earth
4th stanza
On his minted metal shine.
The subtle, steady rush of the whole
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小手川　巧　光
Grey foam-mist of advancing God ,
In a backward ripple, the wave-length, reveal
As He silently sweeps to His somewhere, his
For a moment the mighty direction, snatch
A spark beneath the wheel.
goal,
Is heard in the grass of the sod.
8th stanza
Since Life sweeps onward dim and vast,
7th stanza
Creating the channeled vein of man
For what can all sharp-rimmed substance but
And leaf for its passage, a shadow is cast
catch
In a backward ripple, God’
s purpose, reveal
On all for us to scan.
For a moment His mighty direction, snatch
A spark beneath His wheel.
In the poem before modification, there are lots of
expressions, such as He, God’s purpose, His mighty
8th stanza
direction, etc., associated with a personal sovereign
Since God sweeps onward dim and vast,
God, but they are modified into impersonal things like
Creating the channeled vein of Man
Life, Time, etc. Regarding that, Prof. Iida says,“It was
And Leaf for His passage, His shadow is cast
because he was inclined to have critical attitude toward
Christianity in 1928 when he published Collected
On all for us to scan.
Poems ”[BDP 89].
The subject matter of this poem is noted for French
landscape painter Corot(1796-1875)[8]. Corot’s works
An inference concerning the reasons why Lawrence
are said to have had modernist touch in advance
slanted forward anti-Christianity.
and given a great deal influence to posterior artists.
Lawrence often visited and stayed at the Chambers’
In the first section, I tried to infer that the
farm[9] and not only left many poems praising nature
conflict between his parents and his doting mother’s
but also painted a lot of landscape pictures. The poem
overprotective education affected his inner growth
Corot is a work of the very poet who had such a
painter’s mind. However, as far as the original Corot
and may have deprived him of the capacity to accept
is concerned, Lawrence, still at the age of twenties,
Christian churches emphasize and he came to reject
seems to have thought of the sovereign God positively.
Christian doctrine. However, can it be a reason big
Next, let us see Corot after modification.
important qualities like love and independence
enough for him to shift his philosophy into antiChristianity? Though there are many cases in which
3rd stanza
a pastor’s or priest’s child becomes rebellious against
The grey, phosphorescent, pellucid advance
strict Christian education and leave his/her church
Of the luminous purpose of Life shines out
temporarily, in most cases after twists and turns he/
Where the lofty trees athwart stream chance
she is finally led to a deeper faith than before. For
To shake flakes of its shadow about.
instance, Alfred Tennyson(1809-1892)[10] was a typical
person for such a case. He left a poem below;
4th stanza
The subtle, steady rush of the whole
Strong Son of God, immortal Love,
Grey foam-mist of advancing Time,
Whom we, that have not seen thy face,
As it silently sweeps to its somewhere, his
By faith, and faith alone, embrace,
goal,
Believing where we cannot prove;
Is heard in the grass of the sod.
This is the first stanza of a long poem titled In
Memoriam A.H.H. [10]. Tennyson accomplished such
7th stanza
For what can all sharp-rimmed substance but
a poem as praises God and the faith in Him after the
catch
years of struggling philosophical itinerancy following
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An inference about the influence of Christianity on Lawrence’s earlier poems
his closest friend’s death and got a glorious title of
sensibility and try to express that something, churches
the Poet Laureate[11]. He was a typical poet who
with narrow-minded legalism are incapable of tolerating
harked back to God, while Lawrence can be said to be
their free creative activities.
a contrary typical example. In this sense, he is a very
Are there not any expressions suggesting such
interesting researching target.
churchly condition in Lawrence’s poetry? I would like
To recur to our former topic, his childhood
you to have a look at the following lines;
background cannot be the only reason for his critical
attitude against Christianity. I surmise that the
Forever, ever by my shoulder pitiful Love will
Christian churches’rigid and self-righteous attitude is
linger,
also a big reason. It is necessary to have more survey
Crouching as little houses crouch under the
over the church Lawrence attended and the dominant
mist when I turn.
theology or doctrine, though you can guess that his
Forever, out of the mist the church lifts up
church was also legalistic and exclusive to some extent.
her reproachful finger,
A.W. Tozer[12], one of the prominent theologians in the
Pointing my eyes in wretched defiance where
early twentieth century, said,“Current evangelicalism
love hides her face to mourn.
has laid the altar and divided the sacrifice into parts,
rearrange the pieces with never a care that there is
This is the first stanza of a poem titled End of Another
Home Holiday composed of 63 lines. Though this poem
not a sign of fire upon the top of lofty Carmel”[PG
is said to describe how Lawrence was being annoyed
9]. This means in a sense that Christianity in the first
in the relationship with his mother, as to this portion
half of 20th century had fallen into authoritarianism,
especially 3rd and 4th lines“ the church lifts up her
gotten rigid and lost energy. I have been thinking that
reproachful finger / Pointing my eyes in wretched
as well as the churches before Renaissance, no other
defiance”, it may be describing how his conscience
organizations deprived people of free active fellowship
was being tortured by a legalistic church. T.R. Wright
with God and made individual talent and gift useless
says in his book D.H. Lawrence and the Bible that
than authoritarian and legalistic churches. A.W. Tozer
Lawrence’s church belonged to a rather liberal group
also said on the matter,
[DB 22]. However, it can be said that in those days
but now seems satisfied to count the stones and
most churches had very authoritarian and legalistic
“It is my own belief that every good and
tendency. In anyway as you already have many studies
beautiful thing which man has produced in
about his philosophical shifts, you need to watch it to
the world has been the result of his faulty
the end examining them.
and sin-blocked response to the creative
Lawrence himself said,“A young man is afraid of
Voice sounding over the earth. The moral
his demon[13] and puts his hand over the demon’s
philosophers who dreamed their high
mouth sometimes and speaks for him. And the things
dreams of virtue, the religious thinkers who
the young man says are very rarely poetry. So I have
speculated about God and immortality, the
tried to let the demon say his say, and to remove the
poets and artists who created out of common
passages where the young man intruded”[CP 11].
stuff pure and lasting beauty: how can we
Translated literally, it follows that a demon possessed
explain them? It is not enough to say simply,
Lawrence and had leadership in his producing poems.
`It was genius.' What then is genius? Could
According to Biblical teaching, demons’work is to
it be that a genius is a man haunted by the
lure us into sinful condition and separate us from God.
speaking Voice, laboring and striving like
As a result, you can reasonably say that the demon’
one possessed to achieve ends which he only
s influence on Lawrence’s poetry might have the
vaguely understands?”[PG70]
very same meaning, even though their expressions
are different, as the phrases quoted above from A.W.
If poets and other artists really in this way capture
Tozer’s book; “the result of his faulty and sin-
something filling this world with their sharpened
blocked response to the creative Voice sounding
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小手川　巧　光
in the School of English Studies at Nottingham
over the earth.”[PG70] Lawrence must, namely, be
University.
an outstanding talented person of English literature
who desperately wrestled with various art forms,
[5]
Takeo Iida(1943) is a professor of Kurume
sometimes fascinated and other times tossed back and
University, who is one of the well-known
forth by the voice pervading the world. Although it
researchers of Lawrence in Japan and wrote
may be too premature for me, who has just read only
some books and a number of theses about his
his earlier poems, to conclude his relationship with
literature.
Christianity or the Bible, I dare to say he must have
[6]
Methodist Church is one of the Christian
continued a mental vagrant life, the center of which is
organizations originated from Methodism, a
insistently the Bible, to the last moment even if he was
movement of Protestant Christianity which
parted far away from it. It is a negative expression for
John Wesley began as an evangelistic revival
Christianity, nevertheless, because he described himself
movement in the Anglican Church.
as if he was possessed by a demon, you can think that
[7]
Congregational Church is one of the Protestant
there lurked a deep desire to return to Christianity
Christian churches, whose historical origin is
in him, which may be a little paradoxical view. Also,
the Protestant Reformation by Martin Luther.
in the Wikipedia page about Lawrence, there is a
The feature of the church is its system close to
direct democracy.
sentence about his faith in Christianity, saying,“In
some respects, Lawrence was a forerunner of the
[8]
Corot(Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot 1796-1875) was
growing interest in the occult that occurred in the 20th
a French painter, one of the major figures who
century, though he would have identified himself as a
established the position of landscape painting.
Christian.”This complex description seems to show
[9]
Lawrence visited the farm many times to get
recuperation and had important fellowship with
how difficult it is to grasp Lawrence as an artist.
Jessie Chambers, a daughter of the Chambers.
It is said that they were in love but the most
Notes
important thing in their relationship is said to
have given Lawrence a strong interest in books
which lasted all through his life.
[1]　George Eliot is her pen name. Her real name
is Mary Anne (Mary Ann, Marian) Evans, who
[10]
In Memoriam A.H.H (1849) was a poem written
was one of the leading novelists from England
by Alfred Tennyson to commemorate his
in 1800s. Among her notable works are The Mill
on the Floss (1860), Silas Marner (1861), etc.
best friend Arthur Hallam, a fellow poet and
[2]　Alfred Tennyson was Poet Laureate of the
was engaged to Tennyson's sister, but died
United Kingdom during much of Queen
from a cerebral hemorrhage before they were
Victoria's reign, among whose masterpieces are
married.
Crossing the Bar (1889), In Memoriam A.H.H
classmate at Trinity College, Cambridge, who
[11]
Poet Laureate is a poet or a title officially
appointed by a government. Ben Jonson and
(1849), etc.
William Wordsworth were also Poets Laureate
[3]　D.H. Lawrence (David Herbert Richards
in Britain.
Lawrence, 11 September 1885 – 2 March 1930)
was one of the most prominent writers in
[12]
A.W. Tozer(Aiden Wilson Tozer 1897 - 1963)
modern British literature, who left lots of novels,
was an American theologian and a pastor. He
poets, essays, plays and even paintings. He has
was one of the most influential Christian figures
also been famous in Japan especially through the
in the first half of twentieth century.
case of what we call“Chatterley Court Trial.”
[13]
Strictly speaking, this demon, which was
[4]　Keith Sagar(1934) is an English researcher of
described by Lawrence at that time, meant not
modern British literature, who wrote a lot of
a demon of Biblical meaning but one in ancient
essays and theses about Lawrence. Recently he
Greek belief. However, in a pragmatic sense, he
has been appointed to a Special Professorship
might have used this word through his complex
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An inference about the influence of Christianity on Lawrence’s earlier poems
D.H. Lawrence's prose, poetry and painting,
feeling for and against Christianity.
Heidelberg, Universitätsverlag C. Winter
Roberts, Warren and Poplawski, Paul, ed. (2001) A
bibliography of D.H. Lawrence, Cambridge,
Abreviations
Cambridge University Press
SP
D.H. Lawrence Selected Poetry , edited by
Keith Sagar, 1972, London, PENGUIN BOOKS
A Biography of D.H. Lawrence and
Appreciation of His Poems , Takeo Iida, 1989, Kyoto,
BDP
Yamaguchi-shoten; Japanese Title「D.H.
ロ ー レ ン
ス　小 伝 と 詩 の 鑑 賞 」It is written in Japanese, so I
translated the quoted parts into English.
PG
The Pursuit of God, A.W. Tozer, 1982, Camp
Hill, Christian Publications
DB
D.H. Lawrence and the Bible, T.R. Wright,
2000, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press
References
Fernihough, Anne, ed. (2001) The Cambridge companion
to D.H. Lawrence Cambridge companions to
literature, Cambridge, Cambridge University
Press
Pinion, F. B., (1978) D. H. Lawrence Companion; Life,
Thought, and Works, London, Macmillan
Gilbert, Sandra M., (1972) Acts of attention; the
poems of D. H. Lawrence Ithaca [N.Y.], Cornell
University Press
Lawrence, D. H., (1934) Amores : poems London, Secker
Hochman, Baruch, (1970) Another ego; the changing
view of self and society in the work of D.
H. Lawrence, Columbia, University of South
Carolina Press
Sargent, M. Elizabeth and Watson, Garry, ed. (2001)
Approaches to teaching the works of D.H.
Lawrence, New York, Modern Language
Association of America
Bedient, Calvin, (1972) Architects of the self: George
Eliot, D. H. Lawrence, and E. M. Forster,
Berkeley, University of California Press
Sagar, Keith, (1966) The art of D. H. Lawrence,
Cambridge, C. U. P.
Schulze, Cornelia, (2001) The battle of the sexes in
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