Lawrence’s use of dialect: a few readings and reflections.
D H Lawrence Society, Eastwood, 11 March 2020

Reading 1
From The Merry-Go-Round, Act IV: Rachel Wilcox tries to comfort Harry Hemstock following the death of his mother. (1999 edition, pp. 173-174)

Reading 2
From ‘Odour of Chrysanthemums’: Elizabeth Bates has gone to the Rigleys’ house enquiring about her husband, Walter, who hasn’t come home from the pit. (1995 edition, pp 188-190)

Reading 3
From The Daughter-in-Law, Act IV. Minnie and Mrs Gascoyne are waiting for news of Luther and Joe. (1999 edition, pp. 357-8)

Reading 4
From Sons and Lovers, Chapter II, ‘The Birth of Paul, and another battle’: Walter Morel makes his breakfast before setting off for the pit. (1994 edition, pp. 37-39)


Sources of chosen readings
The Merry-go-Round and The Daughter-in-Law, in The Plays, ed. Hans-Wilhelm Schwarze and John Worthen, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999, pp.111-190 and 301-360 respectively..

‘Odour of Chrysanthemums’, in The Prussian Officer and other Stories, ed. John Worthen, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983; London: Penguin, 1995, pp.181-199.

Sons and Lovers, ed. Helen Baron and Carl Baron, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992; London: Penguin, 1994.


Some supporting references
Hillier, Hilary, Matches and Mismatches: Patterns of THOU and YOU in The Merry-go-Round. Journal of the D H Lawrence Society, 2004-5, pp. 83-102.

- Talking Lawrence: Patterns of Eastwood Dialect in the Work of D H Lawrence. Nottingham: Critical, Cultural and Communications Press in association with the University of Nottingham, 2008.

- Community, Family, “Morel”: A Dialect Approach to Sons and Lovers. D. H. Lawrence Review, Vol. 38, No. 1, 2013, pp. 22-44. [NB: Regrettably, the Appendix to the published version of this paper has gone seriously awry in its phonetic representation of some of the pronunciation patterns!]

“Odour of Chrysanthemums”: A Text in Process, University of Nottingham, 2008. <http://odour.nottingham.ac.uk/index.asp>


Hilary Hillier (née Blagg)
March 2020 

Using Format