D.H. Lawrence

            "Lorenzo is an experience, not a classic" (Becker V). This quote, once uttered by John Middleton Murry, implies that D.H. Lawrence was more than just a modern writer. It implies that he is a type of literary tornado, sweeping one up, and twirling one about in a massive collection of novels, short stories, poems, and paintings until they've become one with the force that is D.H. Lawrence. Upon reading one of his works, it is easy to see why fans, scholars, and critics alike refer to D.H. Lawrence as the "Priest of Love".
             D.H. Lawrence lived through some harrowing times. He faced trials, both literally and figuratively, but in the end he prevailed. His writings were groundbreaking at the time. He wrote openly about sex, something that was unheard of previously. All of his works (novels, paintings, poetry) have a prevailing sexual theme to them, he was criticized for them during his lifetime, and his works were censored more than 20 years after his death, well into the 1950s. .
             Although there were some historically significant events going on during Lawrence's lifetime, he tended to not focus on them in his writings. Instead, he based his stories loosely around actual events in his life. This wasn't characteristic of the authors of his time, who tended to focus on events such as World War I. Although Lawrence lived a fairly uneventful life, his work exhibits a timelessness uncharacteristic of other writers from this time period. He experienced encounters and conflicts with the literary figures and hangers-on of his day, and his work continues to be controversial to this day (Draper 1).
             David Herbert Lawrence was born on the 11th of September, 1885, in Eastwood, Nottinghamshire, England. He was the fourth of five children of Arthur Lawrence, a coal miner who often spoke in dialect, and Lydia Beardsall, a former schoolteacher who spoke in the King's English (Buckley xi). Lawrence was born into a turbulent world.