is he really patient??

A wind comes from the north .
Blowing little flocks of birds
Like spray across the town,
And a train, roaring forth,
Rushes stampeding down
With cries and flying curds
Of steam, out of the darkening north.

Whither I turn and set
Like a needle steadfastly,
Waiting ever to get
The news that she is free;
But ever fixed, as yet,
To the lode of her agony.

this is a poem from DHlawrence called "patience".
in the first period ,he describes a train and some birds to symbolise the situation
and in the second period ,i don't understand what the author means compeletly.is he worried about his lover??did thay stay with each other at that time ??if so .he is really careing about “she".i am so moved yet
anyone who can help me understand this poem??
reply soon``

Rose I can't find this poem in my Lawrence Complete Poems. Are you sure this is the complete poem and "Patience" is the title? From the poem I would say he is patient. In the first stanza everything is on the move: the wind, the birds, the train. But in the second stanza he is fixed, waiting. He compares himself to a lode (a vein of minerals in the ground). I would say his fixedness is in contrast to all that is moving. That's how I read it.

Virgil, that is really good. I had not thought of that and I did not really know what 'lode' meant. Now that I think of it it does have to do with the earth and a vein of minerals. How interesting that poem is. I will also look into my book to see if it is there. I would think that L is referring to Frieda's divorce and waiting patiently for her freedom, but I can't swear to this concept. If I find it in my book, I am sure it will clue me in as to when he wrote it, and that will reveal something. rosepaoo and I have been loosely discussing this poem in PM's, but I suggested this thread to her.
rose, so glad you started it up. I am sure you will get other responses, as well.

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Originally Posted by Janine

Virgil, that is really good. I had not thought of that and I did not really know what 'lode' meant. Now that I think of it it does have to do with the earth and a vein of minerals. How interesting that poem is. I will also look into my book to see if it is there. I would think that L is referring to Frieda's divorce and waiting patiently for her freedom, but I can't swear to this concept. If I find it in my book, I am sure it will clue me in as to when he wrote it, and that will reveal something. rosepaoo and I have been loosely discussing this poem in PM's, but I suggested this thread to her.
rose, so glad you started it up. I am sure you will get other responses, as well.

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You are always good Janine in linking Lawrence's work with his biography. :) I will say I can be persuaded away from my reading. Lawrence loves that word "whither" which suggests a going away. But he's fixed like a needle in a compass, ready to spin and turn in different directions but locked to a point I think.

:yawnb:

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Originally Posted by Virgil

Rose I can't find this poem in my Lawrence Complete Poems. Are you sure this is the complete poem and "Patience" is the title? From the poem I would say he is patient. In the first stanza everything is on the move: the wind, the birds, the train. But in the second stanza he is fixed, waiting. He compares himself to a lode (a vein of minerals in the ground). I would say his fixedness is in contrast to all that is moving. That's how I read it.

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i can understand the poem better after reading your reply.now i believe that the author is really adamant.maybe he is full of confidence about his lover's good news.and the moving things in the first paragraph contrast with the fixed heart of lawrence's.
it's really a good poem .isn't it ??

The poem's title in my anthology is Suspense, so that may be why people can't find it. The title was originally Patience but was changed for an edition of Lawrence's Collected Poems. This title change is significant because suspense and patience give very different moods to the poem.

Also the notes in my edition say the poem is about his mother's sickness, which makes sense as he wrote a lot of poetry about her death.

Sorry to post to an old thread but I ran across your community by chance.

The poem for me also recalls the short novel "The Ladybird", in which an English woman sews shirts for a captured German/Bohemian count she knew before the war. At his request she sews the shirts using a thimble he'd given her as a gift many years before. The thimble has a bead of glass at the tip in the shape of the count's family crest, which is the Ladybird (ladybug) of the title.

The needle in the lode of agony echoes the woman's conflicted emotions about the return of her husband, himself a prisoner being sent back to England. At the same time she finds herself attracted to the dark, wild figure of the wounded count.

I am sure the compass needle is more accurate given the lode reference, but I thought I'd mention this as I am reading the four novels/novellas collected in a Penguin edition.