Letters from a Long Illness with the World: The DH Lawrence Poems

Edward L. Edmonds is a professor of English at the University of Prince
Edward Island.

Lawrence was a prolific writer of letters: some 5500 are still extant.
The Cambridge University Press edition of Lawrence’s letters is
Dempster’s primary source of background information and inspiration,
as he graciously acknowledges. Dempster’s own “letters,” 56 in all
(some in verse, some in prose), span the period from 1906 (when Lawrence
was 21) to 1950 (when Lawrence died from tuberculosis). In the process,
Dempster becomes Lawrence’s alter ego, giving passionate voice to all
his fears and frustrations, his impatience with the world round him, his
sorrow for what is, his glimpses of what might be. “Whenever I close
my eyes,” he says, “I can see the outline of a perfect world”
(“Mallorca 1929”). Some of the more richly sensuous poems focus on
Frieda (Lawrence’s wife), and what she meant to him in their
tempestuous but enduring relationship.

Dempster not only portrays Lawrence the man with astonishing
verisimilitude, but also recaptures Lawrence’s style, those colloquial
rhythms and vivid images. In short, Dempster’s book is a remarkably
adept simulation exercise, a tribute to the master by a most devoted,
proficient, and worthy disciple.