Odour of Chrysanthemums

From the small locomotive engine startling the cantering colt, to the chrysanthemums of the heroines past, or the diminishing coals of the heart fire, D.H. Lawrence’s “Odour of Chrysanthemums” is filled with images that resonate with the reader long after the story is finished. The narrative begins with a description of the sights and sounds of a bleak mining village. The work beings to leap off of the page thanks to Lawrence’s imaginative reproduction of an emotionless widow trying desperately to connect with the world around her through the depravity of the hearthstone.

The hot coals in the kitchen fire bring to life the longing of Mrs. Bates. The readers first introduction to the fading embers gives the impression of a welcome place, “the kitchen was small…; red colas piles…All the life of the room seemed in the white, warm heart…reflecting the red fire.” This seems to be a room where the family shares more than just meals. As the night progresses and the patriarch Walt does not return home, the fireside becomes dark and looming, “the fire was sinking and the room was dark and red.” The image of the happiness that was glimpsed to the reader at their first introduction to the room is replaced with one of sorrow and desperation. This seems to be a desperation that comes from the notion of someone clinging to a hope that as the coals diminish so too will the anguish that they have associated with their life. The heroine Elizabeth is too proud to just lie placidly in the bed she has made for herself. It seems that though she would prefer to be engulfed by the encroaching darkness that is threatening to consume her family, “John, at the end of the table…was almost lost in the darkness.”

As time begins to slowly tick away the room becomes “busy in darkness”5, Elizabeth becomes more and more irritated, both by her husband’s absence and her children’s obsession with the coals. Annie complete with her Dionysian qualities is a stark contrast to Elizabeth’s Apollonian...