Sons and Lovers is written in the third person from the perspective of an omniscient narrator, meaning the narrator assumes an all-knowing perspective on the characters and events of the novel. The novel's overall style is descriptive, lofty, and lyrical. This can be seen in the below passage from Chapter 1, for example, when the young Gertrude Morel first encounters Walter, a coal miner and her husband-to-be:
She looked at him, startled. This was a new tract of life suddenly opened before her. She realized the life of miners, hundreds of them toiling below and coming up at evening. He seemed to her noble. He risked his life daily, and with gaiety. She looked at him, with a touch of appeal in her pure humility.
Rather than expressing the moment Gertrude and Walter meet in straightforward terms, Lawrence uses lofty and lyrical language to emphasize the moment's significance. Gertrude's life doesn't merely change; the novel describes it as literally "opening up," and uses adverbs to depict Walter as stately and appealing. The use of lofty words like "noble," "pure," and "humility" also conveys Lawrence’s interest in the spiritual, more romantic dimensions of everyday life. Lawrence employs language in this specific way to elevate the inner lives of his characters, emphasizing the emotions, thoughts, and unconscious drives behind their experiences.
Despite his interest in the spiritual, Lawrence is a realist, meaning he describes life in concrete, everyday terms using simple vocabulary. Lawrence repeats adverbs to reflect the quality and intensity of certain moments in the narrative, and uses many adjectives to describe characters, especially when introducing them to the reader. Mrs. Morel, for example, is introduced to the reader as "a rather small woman, of delicate mould but of resolute bearing." William Morel is "a very active lad, fair-haired, freckled having blue eyes with a touch of the Dane or Norwegian about him.” These adjectives spark the reader's feelings and imaginations, and add a sense of vividness to the text.
Lawrence also includes various dialects to reveal certain traits about characters, namely their personality, culture, and class. Gertrude Morel, for example, speaks Standard English while Walter Morel speaks in dialect. Paul speaks French when expressing his sexual desire for Clara, and Paul often uses simile or other forms of figurative language when speaking. In Chapter 7, for example, Paul observes roses and tells Miriam they "seem as if they walk like butterflies, and shake themselves," a statement that reflects his romantic, sentimental temperament.
