Sons and Lovers (Barnes & Noble Classics - D. H. Lawrence [229]
8 (p. 227) King Alfred burned the cakes: Alfred the Great (849-899), the first man to be thought of as the King of England, protected the island from Danish invasion. The legend of the cakes was first recorded in the eleventh century. After a skirmish with the Danes, the King takes refuge in a cowherd’s hut. Left to watch the baking, Alfred is harshly scolded when he lets the cakes burn.
9 (p. 227) Solomon’s baby: In a biblical legend, 1 Kings 3:16-28, two women fight for possession of the same baby. When wise King Solomon suggests that they split the baby down the middle and each take half, the real mother objects to the idea and says, “Oh my lord, give her the living child, and in no wise slay it.” Solomon gives her the child.
10 (p. 229) Ce matin ... est si clair: The translation of this French passage is: “This morning the birds woke me. It was still dark out. But the small window in my room was pale, and then, yellow, and all the birds of the forest broke out into a lively and resounding song. The entire dawn quivered. I had dreamed of you. Do you also watch the sun rise? The birds wake me up practically every morning, and there is always a hint of terror in the cry of the thrushes. It is so clear—”
11 (p. 230) Baudelaire’s “Le Balcon”: Charles Pierre Baudelaire (1821-1867) published only one volume of poetry, Les Fleurs du Mal (1857), but is considered to be one of the greatest French poets of the nineteenth century. With Stéphane Mallarmé and Paul Verlaine, he was a so-called Decadent and infamous for his fascination with lust, decay, and perversity. “Le Balcon” is a sexually charged poem included in Les Fleurs du Mal.
12 (p. 230) “Behold her singing ... like a nun”: The quotations are from the Romantic poet William Wordsworth (1770-1850)-the first is from “The Solitary Reaper” (1807), the second from an untitled sonnet (1807). “Fair Ines” is a poem by Thomas Hood (1799-1845). The contrast between the poetry that draws Paul (Baudelaire and Verlaine) is in stark contrast to the poetry that “nourished [Miriam’s] heart.”
13 (p. 230) “Tu te rappelleras la beauté des caresses”: This passage, from Baudelaire’s “Le Balcon,” translates from the French as “You will remember the beauty of caressing.” See also note 11 above.
14 (p. 233) Herbert Spencer: A British philosopher and social scientist (1820-1903), Spencer applied the theory of evolution to human society.
Chapter 9: Defeat of Miriam
1 (p. 239) Primitive Metbodist Cbapel: This breakaway sect of the Methodist church was known for hell-fire preaching and an affinity for and with the working class. D. H. Lawrence’s wife, Frieda Lawrence Ravagli, wrote of their time in Germany in 1912, “On some evenings he [D. H. Lawrence] would be so gay and act a whole revival meeting for me, as in the chapel of his home town. There was the revivalist parson. He would work his congregation up to a frenzy; then, licking his finger to turn the imaginary pages of the book of Judgment and suddenly darting a finger at some sinner in the congregation; ‘Is your name written in the book?’ he would shout.”
2 (p. 245) He had come back ... was his mother: D. H. Lawrence wrote to the poet Rachel Annand Taylor in December 1910, “There has been a kind of bond between me and my mother. We have loved each other, almost with a husband and wife love, as well as filial and maternal. We knew each other by instinct. I think this peculiar fusion of soul never comes twice in a life-time-it doesn’t seem natural.”
3 (p. 246) “Tartarin de Tarascon”: This novel by the French writer Alphonse Daudet (1840-1897) was published in 1872. Daudet also wrote a well-known collection of short stories, Lettres de mon Moulin (1872). See also note 4 in chapter 10.
4 (p. 249) Circe: Circe is a sorceress in Homer’s Odyssey. When Odysseus sends twenty-three men ashore to explore Circe’s island, she turns all but one of them into swine.
5 (p. 249) Tippoo: The family game-cock is