Odour of Chrysanthemums as a Classic Essay -- Odour of Chrysanthemums

Odour of Chrysanthemums as a Classic The claim that Odour of Chrysanthemums is a well-crafted composition is scarce brave or risky, for many would agree. For instance, the man who in a reek discovered Lawrence, English Review editor F. M. Ford, said this about Odour of Chrysanthemums The real title makes an impact on the mind. You get at once the knowledge that this is not, whatever else it may turn out, either a frivolous or thus far a gay springtime story. Chrysanthemums are not only flowers of the autumn they are the autumn itself. . . This man knows what he wants. He sees the scene of his story exactly. He has an authoritative mind. (Ford 257) As a fiction editor, he is quite receptive to Lawrences descriptive gifts. He is impressed with Lawrences sense of purpose. But readers neednt assess the short story by Fords methods alone. Modern readers have a very different perspective than Lawrences contemporaries, ensuring that many different analyses of Odour of Chrysanthemums are possible. However, the plot itself is very simple. In the 1914 version, Elizabeth Bates spends nigh of the story waiting for her husband to return from the mine, fretting that he is once again dallying at a favorite pub. His coworkers drag him home, but he is not in a drunken stupor. He is dead, suffocated in an accident at the mine. Initially it seems that the moment when Elizabeth learns that her husband is dead is the storys climax. However, this is not the storys most riveting moment, for Lawrences foreshadowing has already given this ending away. Elizabeth often unknowingly hints at the coming death, saying, Theyll bring him when he does come--like a log (Lawrence 290). The real bewilderment comes after the reader discove... ...e sense alone. This idea reflects peoples deepest fears, or perhaps evokes new ones. Odour of Chrysanthemums is not successful and shocking because of particularly beautiful writing, realistic characters or even a surprise ending. It is shocking because of a surprise thought. Works Cited Lawrence, David Herbert. Odour of Chrysanthemums. D. H. Lawrence The Complete Short Stories (Vol. 2). New York Penguin Books, 1976. Bolton, James T. Odour of Chrysanthemums An Early Version. Renaissance and Modern Studies 13 (1969), 12-44. Ford, Madox Ford. D. H. Lawrence. Portraits from Life. capital of Massachusetts Houghton Mifflin, 1937. Lawrence, David Herbert. Women Are So Cocksure. Phoenix. London Heinemann, 1936. 167-69. Lawrence, David Herbert. To T. D. D. 7 July 1914. Selected Letters. Ed. Richard Aldington. New York Penguin Books, 1996.