In Chapter 2, the novel uses allusion, imagery, and personification to describe the landscape as Gertrude Morel, holding her second son Paul in her arms, watches the sun go down:
Every open evening, the hills of Derbyshire were blazed over with red sunset. Mrs. Morel watched the sun sink from the glistening sky, leaving a soft flower-blue overhead, while the western space went red, as if all the fire had swum down there, leaving the bell cast flawless blue. The mountain-ash berries across the field stood fierily out from the dark leaves, for a moment. A few shocks of corn in a corner of the fallow stood up as if alive; she imagined them bowing; perhaps her son would be a Joseph. In the east, a mirrored sunset floated pink opposite the west’s scarlet.
Note how full the above passage is of figurative language, as well as vivid descriptive details. The narrator describes the image of the sun setting over the hills in painterly terms, with attention paid to light, shadow, and color. The landscape transforms underneath the warmth and light of the sun. Lawrence, who believed nature played a pivotal role in shaping the lives of human beings, includes these descriptions to underscore’s the landscape’s significance, particularly as it relates to Mrs. Morel. The sun’s light and warmth make her feel hopeful and offer a moment of relief from her unhappiness.
Significantly, the narrator also gives the corn in the field human-like attributes, describing them as if they were human figures bowing in respect. This instance of personification also happens to be an allusion, or reference, to Genesis 37:5-10 in the Bible, in which the future patriarch Joseph has a prophetic dream of eleven bundles of grain bowing down to him, representing his supremacy over his brothers. This dramatic image creates a sense of spirituality and awe. Moreover, in comparing Paul to Joseph, the novel characterizes Paul as unique and special, which reflects how Mrs. Morel feels about him. This belief in Paul’s “specialness” causes her to form an especially close bond with him; this means that later, when Paul starts to develop relationships of his own, Mrs. Morel becomes jealous and possessive.
An instance of simile, a figure of speech that directly compares two unlike things, and personification, a form of figurative language in which non-human things are given human attributes, occurs in Chapter 13 after Paul leaves his lover Clara and ruminates on their relationship on a walk home:
Behind, the houses stood on the brim of the dip, black against the sky like wild beasts glaring curiously with yellow eyes down into the darkness. It was the town that seemed savage and uncouth, glaring on the clouds at the back of him. Some creature stirred under the willows of the farm pond. It was too dark to distinguish anything.
In the passage above, Lawrence uses figurative language to describe the landscape that surrounds Paul. The narrator first compares the houses, illuminated from within, to “wild beasts” with “yellow eyes,” an unlikely comparison that strikes the reader’s imagination and makes the houses appear threatening. The darkness that surrounds Paul creates a sense of foreboding and anxiety, as does the narrator’s use of human attributes to describe the town. The creature Paul imagines lurking beneath the pond represents his unconscious desires, which drive his thoughts, emotions, and behavior. Lawrence’s use of personification and simile, all in all, conveys the emotional distance, restlessness, and frustration Paul feels because of the difficulties in his relationship with Clara and other women.
