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Similes in D.H.Lawrence’s 
“Sons and Lovers”

The ability of understanding a piece of literature isnot an easy task at all, for literature is a specific
world giving a wide opportunity to study the diversity of
imaginative elements, those inherent and adherent
connotations which give birth to many new meanings.

In fiction the constant interplay of language units offers
a whole range of interpretations. In this respect the creative
use of stylistic devices in verbal art is of paramount
importance.

Verbal art as opposed to intellective prose is the
mediated reverberation of the objective reality. It does not
reflect real facts directly as they are. The latter go through
the imaginative mind of the writer, get transformed and, in
this sense, turn into something fictive.

The present paper goes along the lines of interpretation
of simile or literary comparison which is a figure of speech
consisting in an explicit likening of one thing to another on
the basis of a common feature. In verbal art simile is one of
the most powerful means, which reveals the author’s
understanding of the surrounding world, his thoughts and
ideas.

In our study we have singled out two types of similes-
metonymic and metaphoric. The terms and definitions have
been introduced by Prof. S. Gasparyan according to whom
the interpretation and understanding of metonymic simile

does not cause any special difficulty and efforts, for linguistic units are rationally
regulated and presuppose the ability of the reader to perceive the meaning easily. The
picture is completely different in the case of metaphoric similes where the linguistic
elements are never used at random, their choice and arrangement is always pragmatically
conditioned. (Gasparian S., 1991, 2000, 2008)

In our study, however, our main concern is the metaphoric simile, its effect and
realization in D.H. Lawrence’s “Sons and Lovers”. As a skillful master of verbal art
Lawrence goes deep into the human mind and soul and is never satisfied with mere
fiction. Emotional manipulation is at the core of his most intriguing novel, “Sons and
Lovers’’ which greets the reader with the author’s elegant prose while systematically
immersing the story in a swirling cloud of tangled dysfunction. 

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Armine Matevosyan 

Anna Melkonyan 



The novel can be considered Lawrence’s autobiography, as it resembles much of the
writer’s own life. It gives, therefore, an interpretation of how close Lawrence and his
mother really were. In this relation he is very vulnerable, because he not only expresses
himself as the son, but also as the inevitable lover. Paul, the main character, living with
two women (Clara and Miriam) understands that neither Clara nor Miriam can replace
his mother and this mutual psychological bondage makes him suffer.

The use of the simile in this context helps the reader to penetrate into the character’s
inner world, discovering new and intricate facts of his life.

Paul suddenly looked at her.
“Why are you so sad?” he asked her.
“Sad?” she exclaimed, looking up at him, with startled, wonderful

brown eyes.
“Yes, he replied. “You are always, always sad!”
“Oh, I am not, not a bit!” she cried.
“But even your joy is like a flame coming off of sadness,” he

persisted.
“I wonder, why?”
Because you are not: because you are different inside like a pine-

tree, and then you flare up: you are not an ordinary tree, with fidgety
leaves and jolly.”

(D.H.Lawrence, “Sons and Lovers”, p.202)

In the analysis of the passage special attention should be given to the metaphoric
simile “your joy is like a flame coming off of sadness”. Here the rules of conceptual
compatibility are obviously violated: joy does not denote a tangible object, whereas
flame expresses a tangible and visible quality. The word flame (a bright light; an intense
feeling) has gained negative polyphonic meaning: sad, sorrowful, mournful, showing or
causing sorrow.

The metamorphosis here is conditioned not only by intermetaphoric interactions,
but also by the general mood of the work itself and the inner world of the main character.
The meaning of the above mentioned simile is intensified when another simile follows:
You are different inside like a pine-tree.

It is worth mentioning that the interpretation of metaphorical similes may differ
among the readers. It generally depends on the profundity of their knowledge, on their
mental outlook. The picture is quite different in the case of metonymic similes, where
the reader does not need to analyze the given simile thoroughly. The author’s intention
is quite conceivable.

As has been mentioned above the word flame has acquired a new meaning. It has
got the meaning of grief, bewailing, lamentation. 

The similes used by the author are not aimless as they help the reader to penetrate
into the hidden essence of the character. 

Paul is in delusion. Finding in his mother all the important prerequisites for life, he

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loses his sympathy with Miriam. She, now, is depreciated. She becomes invisible - one
who does not exist. After all he breaks off with Miriam. However Miriam believes that
his chief need in life is she herself. If she could prove it, both to herself and to him, she
would simply trust the future.

New relations began between Clara and Paul. For Paul’s mother Clara was better
than Miriam yet she was not the right one she wanted. But the mother’s influence is so
great that neither Miriam nor Clara can help him. And one day he feels the nonsense of
Clara.

Clara and Paul loved the Lincolnshire coast and she loved the sea.
In the morning they often went out together to bathe. As usual she went to
the sea but Paul decided not to bathe but just have a look at her. She was
in water moving deeper and deeper…

She seemed to move very slowly across the vast sounding shore. As
he watched, he lost her. She was dazzled out of sight by the sunshine.
Again he saw her, the merest white speck moving against the white,
muttering sea-edge.

“Look how little she is!” he said to himself. “She’s lost like a grain
of sand in the beach - just a concentrated speck blown along, a tiny white
foam-bubble, almost nothing among the morning. Why does she absorb
me?”

The morning was altogether uninterrupted: she was gone in the
water. Far and wide the beach, the sandhills with their blue murrain, the
shining water, glowed together in immense, unbroken solitude.

“What is she, after all?” he said to himself. “Here’s the sea-coast
morning, big and permanent and beautiful; there is she, fretting, always
unsatisfied, and temporary as a bubble of foam. What does she mean to
me, after all? She represents something like a bubble of foam represents
the sea. But what is she? It’s not her I care for.”

(D.H.Lawrence, “Sons and Lovers”, p.425)

The passage is very typical and it requires a specific and thorough examination.
It is clear from the passage that Paul compares Clara with a grain of sand showing

her smallness and meanness. Now she has no value for him. To emphasize the meaning
of the conception deeper, the author continues the range of similes comparing Clara to
a bubble of foam. In the expression she is temporary like a bubble of foam the word
temporary is worthy of notice. The author shows that Clara is also temporary for Paul.
She is unstable like a bubble of foam and can appear and disappear any time. He finds
now no stable values in her. For him she seems a temporary pleasure. 

The author uses alliteration, which gives words additional emotional coloring and
unique sonority as [l], [k], [g] (she is lost like a grain of sand).

The context is not confined to alliteration only. In the given simile we come across
the use of accumulation of attributes, as synonymic condensation, which help the reader

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to reveal the hidden, undiscovered nature of the character. The attributes (a tiny, white,
foam( bubble); fretting, unsatisfied, temporary ( like a bubble of foam) are the key words
which expose the spiritual world of the character.

In the example adduced below one can face a brutally frank portrayal of the
relationship between a domineering mother and the son, a relationship that colors every
aspect of the protagonist’s life. The author paints this portrait with very fine brush
strokes, pays a lot of attention to descriptive detail and succeeds in one of the best
characterizations in modern English literature.

It was very dark, with an attempt at snow, although the spring was so
far advanced. Morel had not much time; he plunged forward. The town
ceases almost abruptly on the edge of a steep hollow; there the houses
with their yellow lights stand up against the darkness. He went over the
stile, and dropped quickly into the hollow of the fields. Under the orchard
one warm window shone in Swine head Farm. Paul Glanced round.
Behind, the houses stood on the brim of the dip, black against the sky like
wild beasts glaring curiously with yellow eyes down into the darkness. It
was the town that seemed savage and uncouth, glaring on the clouds at the
back of him. Some creature stirred under the willows of the farm pond. It
was too dark to distinguish anything.

(D.H.Lawrence, “Sons and Lovers”, p.433)

The passage is very expressive and full of colorful images. It immediately disposes
the reader to grasp the tense atmosphere of the inner tragedy and riot of the hero. The
whole segment is fully metaphoric. As we see the author compares houses to wild beasts.
In this metaphoric passage the author does not say openly that the hero is in desperate
situation. That spiritual indignant state is vivid in the above adduced paragraph. At first
sight it seems strange for he always admired the beauty of his town. The town, the
houses, the own yard that were so dear to him now have no value and have turned to be
wild beasts as if they want to attack him.

The expression wild beast which is a very ordinary expression acquires polyphonic
coloring only in the metaphoric combination with such a word as house (houses like wild
beasts). The hero’s mental riot is the result of his mother’s inconsolable state. The
thought that soon his mother would leave him, leave the world, the house where she
lives, makes him suffer so bitterly.

The peculiarities of the segmental aspect of the passage also deserve a lot of
attention. We find an interplay of alliteration: [b], [g], [d]. (Behind, the houses stood on
the brim of the dip, black against the sky like wild beasts glaring curiously with yellow
eyes down into the darkness.) The condensation of these consonants conveys gloomy
overtones to the passage.

In conclusion we can state that in portraying his characters D.H.Lawrence is a
brilliant master. He uses stylistic devices and expressive means abundantly to describe
his character’s nature. The wide application of simile as well as other stylistic devices

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(metaphor, repetition, allusion, alliteration), enriches the work making it more
expressive and sonorous. The use of similes helps the reader to penetrate into the hidden
essence of Lawrence’s characters and to discover such secret aspects that are hidden
between the lines. 

References:

1. Akhmanova, O. (1972) Linguostylistics. Theory and Method. Moscow:  MGU. 
2. Galperin, I.R. (1977) Stylistics. Moscow: Vishaya Shkola.
3. Grenville, Kleiser (1925) Similes and Their Use. New York and London: Funk and

Wagnalls Comp. 
4. Karapetyan, K.M. (1984) English Similes. Yerevan: YSU.
5. Sosnovskaya, V.S. (1974) Analytical Reading. Moscow: MGU.
6. Gasparyan, S.K., (1991) Lingvopoetika obraznovo sravnenya. Yerevan: Izd.

yerevanskogo universiteta.
7. Gasparyan, S.K. (2000) Figura sravneniya v funktsionalnom osveshchenii.

Yerevan: Izd. yerevanskogo universiteta.
8. Zadornova, V.I., (1986) Stilistika angliyskogo yazika. Moskva: MGU.
9. Zadornova, V.I., (1984) Vospriyatie i interpretatsiya khudozhestvennogo teksta.

Moskva: MGU.

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