Aware

D. H. Lawrence's Aware

D. H. Lawrence’s Aware is a luminous meditation on beauty, longing, and the ephemeral nature of human connection. Written in Lawrence’s characteristically vivid and sensuous style, the poem captures a moment of profound emotional and aesthetic awakening. Through its rich imagery, evocative language, and deeply personal tone, Aware invites readers to contemplate the interplay between the self and the sublime, the temporal and the eternal. This essay will explore the poem’s historical and cultural context, its use of literary devices, its central themes, and its emotional resonance, offering a comprehensive analysis of its enduring significance.

Historical and Cultural Context

D. H. Lawrence (1885–1930) was a writer deeply attuned to the tensions of his time. Living through the upheavals of the early 20th century—industrialization, World War I, and the erosion of traditional values—Lawrence’s work often grapples with themes of alienation, desire, and the search for authenticity. His poetry, like his prose, reflects a profound sensitivity to the natural world and a yearning for spiritual and emotional renewal. Aware can be seen as part of Lawrence’s broader exploration of human relationships and the transcendent power of beauty.

The poem’s imagery of the moon and its golden haze evokes a Romantic sensibility, recalling the works of poets like William Wordsworth and John Keats, who also sought to capture the sublime in nature. However, Lawrence’s approach is distinctly modern. His moon is not a distant, impersonal symbol but a deeply personal and almost tactile presence. This blending of the Romantic and the modern is characteristic of Lawrence’s work, reflecting his desire to reconcile the spiritual and the sensual in a rapidly changing world.

Literary Devices and Imagery

Lawrence’s use of imagery in Aware is both striking and deliberate. The poem opens with the moon rising “out of the ruddy haze,” a description that immediately situates the reader in a liminal space between day and night, earth and sky. The moon’s transformation from a golden to a white presence mirrors the speaker’s own emotional awakening, suggesting a movement from obscurity to clarity, from ignorance to awareness. The moon, often a symbol of femininity and mystery, becomes a metaphor for the speaker’s unacknowledged desires and the sudden, almost painful recognition of beauty.

The personification of the moon as a woman divesting herself of her “golden shift” is particularly evocative. This act of disrobing is both intimate and symbolic, suggesting a revelation or unveiling of truth. The moon’s emergence as “white and exquisite” underscores its purity and otherworldly beauty, while the speaker’s reaction—“I in amaze”—conveys a sense of wonder and vulnerability. The moon’s beauty is not merely observed but felt, as it “hurts [the speaker’s] heart,” a phrase that captures the paradoxical nature of aesthetic experience: its capacity to both uplift and wound.

The poem’s structure reinforces its themes of pursuit and longing. The speaker’s gaze follows the moon “down the night,” a phrase that suggests both a physical and emotional journey. The repetition of the word “her” emphasizes the moon’s centrality to the speaker’s consciousness, while the final line—“begging her not to depart”—conveys a sense of urgency and desperation. The moon, though constant in its cycles, is also transient, a reminder of the fleeting nature of beauty and connection.

Themes

At its core, Aware is a poem about awareness itself—the sudden, often unsettling recognition of something previously unnoticed or unacknowledged. The speaker’s realization that he loves the moon, or the woman it represents, is both a moment of joy and a source of pain. This duality is central to the poem’s emotional impact, as it captures the complexity of human desire: the longing for connection, the fear of loss, and the inevitability of separation.

The poem also explores the theme of beauty as both a source of inspiration and a cause of suffering. The moon’s beauty is described as “exquisite,” a word that conveys both admiration and fragility. The speaker’s reaction to this beauty—“her beauty hurts my heart”—suggests that true aesthetic experience is not passive but active, requiring a willingness to be vulnerable and open to emotion. This idea resonates with Lawrence’s broader philosophical concerns, particularly his belief in the importance of living authentically and embracing the full range of human experience.

Another key theme is the tension between the eternal and the ephemeral. The moon, a symbol of constancy and cyclical renewal, is also a reminder of the impermanence of individual moments. The speaker’s plea for the moon not to depart reflects a desire to hold onto something that is, by its very nature, transient. This tension is echoed in the poem’s imagery, which juxtaposes the moon’s timeless beauty with the fleetingness of the night.

Emotional Impact

One of the most striking aspects of Aware is its emotional immediacy. Lawrence’s language is both intimate and universal, allowing readers to connect with the speaker’s experience on a deeply personal level. The poem’s emotional power lies in its ability to capture the intensity of a single moment—the sudden awareness of beauty, the ache of longing, the fear of loss. These emotions are conveyed with a simplicity and directness that belies their complexity, making the poem accessible while also inviting deeper reflection.

The speaker’s vulnerability is particularly poignant. His admission that the moon’s beauty “hurts [his] heart” reveals a willingness to confront the pain that often accompanies profound emotional experiences. This vulnerability is both a source of strength and a reminder of the speaker’s humanity, as it underscores the depth of his connection to the moon and the emotions it evokes.

The poem’s closing line—“begging her not to depart”—leaves readers with a sense of unresolved tension. The speaker’s plea is both heartfelt and futile, as the moon, like all things, must eventually set. This ending reinforces the poem’s themes of transience and longing, while also highlighting the speaker’s courage in embracing the full complexity of his emotions.

Conclusion

D. H. Lawrence’s Aware is a masterful exploration of beauty, longing, and the transformative power of awareness. Through its rich imagery, evocative language, and deeply personal tone, the poem captures a moment of profound emotional and aesthetic awakening, inviting readers to contemplate the interplay between the self and the sublime. Its themes of vulnerability, transience, and the duality of beauty resonate with Lawrence’s broader philosophical concerns, while its emotional immediacy ensures its enduring appeal.

In Aware, Lawrence reminds us of the power of poetry to illuminate the complexities of human experience, offering a glimpse of the eternal in the ephemeral and the universal in the personal. The poem’s ability to connect with readers on an emotional level is a testament to Lawrence’s skill as a poet and his deep understanding of the human condition. As we read and reread Aware, we are invited to share in the speaker’s journey of discovery, to embrace the beauty and pain of awareness, and to find meaning in the fleeting moments that define our lives.