Analysis of Whales Weep Not!
David Herbert Lawrence 1885 (Eastwood, Nottinghamshire) – 1930 (Vence)
They say the sea is cold, but the sea contains
the hottest blood of all, and the wildest, the most urgent.
All the whales in the wider deeps, hot are they, as they urge
on and on, and dive beneath the icebergs.
The right whales, the sperm-whales, the hammer-heads, the killers
there they blow, there they blow, hot wild white breath out of the sea!
And they rock, and they rock, through the sensual ageless ages
on the depths of the seven seas,
and through the salt they reel with drunk delight
and in the tropics tremble they with love
and roll with massive, strong desire, like gods.
Then the great bull lies up against his bride
in the blue deep of the sea
as mountain pressing on mountain, in the zest of life:
and out of the inward roaring of the inner red ocean of whale blood
the long tip reaches strong, intense, like the maelstrom-tip, and comes to rest
in the clasp and the soft, wild clutch of a she-whale's fathomless body.
And over the bridge of the whale's strong phallus, linking the wonder of whales
the burning archangels under the sea keep passing, back and forth,
keep passing archangels of bliss
from him to her, from her to him, great Cherubim
that wait on whales in mid-ocean, suspended in the waves of the sea
great heaven of whales in the waters, old hierarchies.
And enormous mother whales lie dreaming suckling their whale-tender young
and dreaming with strange whale eyes wide open in the waters of the beginning and the end.
And bull-whales gather their women and whale-calves in a ring
when danger threatens, on the surface of the ceaseless flood
and range themselves like great fierce Seraphim facing the threat
encircling their huddled monsters of love.
and all this happiness in the sea, in the salt
where God is also love, but without words:
and Aphrodite is the wife of whales
most happy, happy she!
and Venus among the fishes skips and is a she-dolphin
she is the gay, delighted porpoise sporting with love and the sea
she is the female tunny-fish, round and happy among the males
and dense with happy blood, dark rainbow bliss in the sea.
Scheme | XX XXXA XBXCXXA XDXA EXXXABXX XDXCXXEA XAEA |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11011110101 01011100100110 10100101111111 1010101010 0110110101010 11111111111101 011011101001010 10110101 0101111101 0001010111 01110101011 1011110111 0011101 1101011000111 011010101010110111 01110101101010111 001001111011110 01001101111001011 010101001110101 1101011 1110101111 11110110010001101 110110010110 00101011101011101 0101111110001010010001 01110110011001 11010101010101 010111111001 01001101011 011100001001 1111011011 001010111 110101 010010101010110 1101010101011001 110110110100101 011101111001 |
Closest metre | Iambic heptameter |
Characters | 2,082 |
Words | 374 |
Sentences | 11 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 2, 4, 7, 4, 8, 8, 4 |
Lines Amount | 37 |
Letters per line (avg) | 44 |
Words per line (avg) | 10 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 235 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 53 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 30, 2023
- 1:52 min read
- 227 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Whales Weep Not!" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 5 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/7906/whales-weep-not%21>.
Discuss this David Herbert Lawrence poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In