Help me figure out this quote by DH Lawrence!

[spite519]

Hey guys, I'm new to this place but I'm hoping someone is willing to take a few moments to think about something that's been troubling me for some time now.

I'm into quotations and reading up on old litterature and what not and I happend to stumble upon this quote by DH Lawrence:

"There's always the hyena of morality at the garden gate, and the real wolf at the end of the street."

Now I can't really figure out the symbolism or meaning.. I take it "garden gate" is literally the porch to someone's home.. but that's really as far as I've got it.

An hyena is (from wiki): "Many cultures, including those in Africa, have historically viewed the hyena negatively, associating them with gluttony, uncleanliness and cowardice." And of course it's a scavenger.. not very intellectual but very "program", so to speak.

Now it's an "hyena of morality"... Lawrence lived a long time ago and morality at the time was probably synonymous with religious dogma meaning "morality" would follow you around like an hyena, not necessarily dangerous but definitely annoying and a nuisance..

Anyway the point is I'm stuck and I would very much like if someone could help me out?

[MarkBastable]

The hyena is a scavenger - not a killer, but a kind of second-hand predator. Wolves are actual killers.

So I'd say that DHL means that the morality that's most obvious, most immediate tends to be a second-hand, derivative morality - but that the real moral stuff, the stuff that'll take you down, is out there, not far away, beyond the immediately apparent.

Incidentally, I'm posting this in several places on the net - just so it's easy to find, should anyone want to check its provenance.

And, by the way, Lawrence didn't live that long ago - he was the product of the industrial Midlands of England, and not particularly hidebound by religious dogma. Though he was, to be honest, an uptight, humourless twit with an overdeveloped sense of his own something or other.

Hey guys, I'm new to this place but I'm hoping someone is willing to take a few moments to think about something that's been troubling me for some time now.

I'm into quotations and reading up on old litterature and what not and I happend to stumble upon this quote by DH Lawrence:

"There's always the hyena of morality at the garden gate, and the real wolf at the end of the street."

Now I can't really figure out the symbolism or meaning.. I take it "garden gate" is literally the porch to someone's home.. but that's really as far as I've got it.

An hyena is (from wiki): "Many cultures, including those in Africa, have historically viewed the hyena negatively, associating them with gluttony, uncleanliness and cowardice." And of course it's a scavenger.. not very intellectual but very "program", so to speak.

Now it's an "hyena of morality"... Lawrence lived a long time ago and morality at the time was probably synonymous with religious dogma meaning "morality" would follow you around like an hyena, not necessarily dangerous but definitely annoying and a nuisance..

Anyway the point is I'm stuck and I would very much like if someone could help me out?

[spite519]

Thanks for your quick response!

Let me see if I understand your point.. the obvious moral is just that of a lower-tier than what's to be found elsewhere? If you just look outside you can find a better way of life?

This isn't exactly a school assignment so I'm not too read up on DHL or his times, I got fascinated by the quote and asked around if anyone understood it.

[MarkBastable]

Thanks for your quick response!

Let me see if I understand your point.. the obvious moral is just that of a lower-tier than what's to be found elsewhere? If you just look outside you can find a better way of life?

I think he's talking about the way morals tear you to bits, rather than improve you. He didn't choose the hyena and the wolf because he thought they were plushy, wise and kinda Aslan with street-cred.

[Virgil]

I'm kind of stumped myself, and I know Lawrence fairly well. I certainly agree with MarkBastable on the hyena side of the sentence, but I really have no idea what the wolf part is alluding to. Lawrence was kind of two minds when it came to conventional morals. He certainly resented, even despised conventional morals when they were applied to him, but he held them himself when it came to others. I can't exactly tell what that wolf refers to.

Where is that quote from, by the way? I've never seen it before.

[Quark]

Now it's an "hyena of morality"... Lawrence lived a long time ago and morality at the time was probably synonymous with religious dogma meaning "morality" would follow you around like an hyena, not necessarily dangerous but definitely annoying and a nuisance..

Without its context, the line might read like that, but Lawrence was actually referring to the backlash he expected for eloping with another man's wife--something stronger than a nuisance probably. The quotation is from a letter Lawrence wrote in early 1913 that described his anxiety about the future:

I'm wondering what I shall do at Easter. We shall probably be coming to England. Frieda expects to see her children then. You might scan the divorce collumns and tell me if I ever appear as a Co-respondent. Weekly [the husband] talked of divorce, just before Christmas, but God knows how far he'll get with it. It would wear out the heart of a wheel-barrow trundle, as my father would say, this kind of business. Of course one mostly writes letters just when one is pippy. As a rule I'm very happy. There's always the hyena of morality at the garden gate, and the real wolf at the end of the street. But simple faith is more than Norman blood, we are told. The question is, how exactly am I going to manage.

Lawrence barely holds onto a cautious optimism in this paragraph. The coming fiasco clearly worries him, and his response is to universalize the experience and claim that everyone faces this challenge at every moment. It's a bit like if I were facing a terrifying surgical procedure, and I said "There's always the hyena of appendectomy at the garden gate." That might reassure me, since it would make going into the ER seem like any other day. Lawrence means to diminish doubts about his affair by calling them routine. The middle of the paragraph makes it sound almost cliche. Suddenly he gets folksy, and divorce proceedings "wear the heart out of a wheel-barrow trundle." Morality is a "hyena." He even expresses his hopes in terms of a oft-quoted line of Tennyson: "But simple faith is more than Norman blood, we are told." Everything here is designed to deflate anxiety. Instead of a uniquely challenging situation, Lawrence wants Macleod (the guy on the other end of this correspondence) to see this as so ordinary it's cliche.

That's the context. As for the content, it's a little too elliptical for me. We don't know what connection the street has the with garden. We don't know if the predators will ever get the speaker, or whether they're just menacing in the distance. We know what kind of hyena there is at the garden gate (one of mortality), but we don't know what the wolf is exactly. I think MarkBastable is right to point out that wolves are generally more dangerous than hyenas. That fits with how Lawrence uses the word "wolf" or "wolfish" in his fiction. Wolves in Women in Love, for example, embody power, aggression, and aloofness. Hyenas have all these qualities, but in less abundance. Hence, the wolf is the "real" Hyena--or the Hyena elevated to a higher level. That means the garden is under less attack than the street. Street and garden can be thought of as markers of public and private space. The sentence appears to be saying that our private lives--you know, the ones we commit adultery in--are secure, so long as we don't open the garden gate. Once we step out into public life, though, we lose our protection, and the hyena that we saw from our sheltered private life might actually be a wolf. Lawrence seems to be suggesting that we ignore the hyena. That is, we shouldn't let morality ruin our private lives. But, if we're to venture out into society, we should be aware that we might face real dangers. Hence, Lawrence decides to keep the hyena of morality from ruining his relationship with Frieda: "As a rule I'm very happy." But, at the same time, he questions how he to deal with the wolf in public life: "The question is, how exactly am I going to manage."

[Virgil]

Outstanding Quark! Did you google that or did you know that letter? Kudos!

[Quark]

Did you google that

Google Booked it, actually. They digitized thousands of titles, and made them searchable. It's almost as easy to find a phrase with Google's Book database, as it to find porn with their search engine. You can see the letter I was talking about here (don't ask me about the porn):

http://books.google.com/books?id=ONl...eet%22&f=false

The box at the top allows you to search for different books, and the box on the far left lets you search within a book for a word or phrase. Eventually, the concordance will be a thing of the past. Everything will be online,[STRIKE] AND GOOGLE WILL BURN THE LIBRARIES THAT STILL REMAIN[/STRIKE]. It'll be great.

Anyway, what do you think of the interpretation? Kudos to the research, but what of the reading? Lawrence didn't make this easy for the anonymous reader. I keep thinking he must be making some allusion. Is there a Bible passage talking about hyenas and wolves? I don't know.

[Virgil]

That is fabulous Quark. I didn't realize one could do that. Are all books in that data base? I will have to use that all the time.

As to your interpretation, it seems as good as any. Like you say, it's really eliptical, and I can't recall lawrence having any special associations with hyena or wolf.

Now as to your porn...

[Quark]

I didn't realize one could do that. Are all books in that data base?

No, not all, but most classics are there. As a resource, I give it an 8/10.

By the way, are they any reading groups on LitNet right now? I have a month until I have to go back to school, so I'd love to get in a discussion before then. I checked the Lawrence, Shakespeare, and Poe threads, but they were deserted. Maybe I'll start up a new one. I'm reading a lot of Thomas Hardy right now, and I know there are some Litnetters who enjoy his novels. I wouldn't mind reading The Woodlanders with someone.

[Virgil]

By the way, are they any reading groups on LitNet right now? I have a month until I have to go back to school, so I'd love to get in a discussion before then.

Yes. We are doing The Turn of the Screw by Henry James: http://www.online-literature.com/for...ad.php?t=48788. For some reason i can see you enjoying that one.

We should consider a new Shakespeare play.

[Janine]

Hey, you guys - excellent work, especially your post, Quark! Wow, I am impressed. I think you nailed it. Virgil, now you can use this quote for your signature, since it involves a wolf! I think all this information and everyone's ideas will aid the original poster of the question. Welcome to the forum, Spite15. I, too, am a big Lawrence enthusiast and MarkBastable, I didn't appreciate your remark, I can't take that one lying down... because our beloved Lawrence was not a 'twit'. The man suffered from consumption all his life and lived only to be in his 40's, yet produced some of the most amazing work of any author in the 20th century and much of it, too. He was a genius; scholars today all agree on that point.

[Virgil]

And, by the way, Lawrence didn't live that long ago - he was the product of the industrial Midlands of England, and not particularly hidebound by religious dogma. Though he was, to be honest, an uptight, humourless twit with an overdeveloped sense of his own something or other.

I missed that. Hidebound by religious dogma? I don't think you understand Lawrence at all. He broke with religious dogma every chance. That is absolutely incorrect. And he was definitely not humorless. People remarked at his sense of humor. He would have people laughing with his impersonations. No you don't know Lawrence at all.

[Janine]

I missed that. Hidebound by religious dogma? I don't think you understand Lawrence at all. He broke with religious dogma every chance. That is absolutely incorrect. And he was definitely not humorless. People remarked at his sense of humor. He would have people laughing with his impersonations. No you don't know Lawrence at all.

Ditto!...exactly my own thoughts.....


Quark, I would be up for a reading/discussion of The Woodlanders. I love that novel.

[Quark]

Yes. We are doing The Turn of the Screw by Henry James: http://www.online-literature.com/for...ad.php?t=48788. For some reason i can see you enjoying that one.

I'm actually not that big of a Henry James fan. I might say a thing or two in the thread, though. I think I'm going to hold off on starting a new discussion for a couple of weeks. In the meantime, I'll need something to do.

We should consider a new Shakespeare play.

We should.

I, too, am a big Lawrence enthusiast and MarkBastable, I didn't appreciate your remark

I missed that. Hidebound by religious dogma? I don't think you understand Lawrence at all.

Wow, some fierce reactions. I have to pile on, though. Lawrence did have a sense of humor, and he was pretty radical in his spiritual beliefs. Of course, one could call any early 20th century Englishman humorless and hidebound. They were a pretty uptight bunch.

Oh, and per usual, Janine wins for the most Christmas-y avatar. I shake my Grinch fist, though.