Sons and Lovers

by David Herbert Lawrence

He followed her across the nibbled pasture in the dusk. There was a coolness in the wood, a scent of leaves, of honeysuckle, and a twilight. The two walked in silence. Night came wonderfully there, among the throng of dark tree-trunks. He looked round, expectant.

                She wanted to show him a certain wild-rose bush she had discovered. She knew it was wonderful. And yet, till he had seen it, she felt it had not come into her soul. Only he could make it her own, immortal. She was dissatisfied.

                Dew was already on the paths. In the old oak-wood a mist was rising, and he hesitated, wondering whether one whiteness were a strand of fog or only campion-flowers pallid in a cloud.

                By the time they came to the pine-trees Miriam was getting very eager and very tense. Her bush might be gone. She might not be able to find it; and she wanted it so much. Almost passionately she wanted to be with him when he stood before the flowers. They were going to have a communion together—something that thrilled her, something holy. He was walking beside her in silence. They were very near to each other. She trembled, and he listened, vaguely anxious.

                Coming to the edge of the wood, they saw the sky in front, like mother-of-pearl, and the earth growing dark. Somewhere on the outermost branches of the pine-wood the honeysuckle was streaming scent.

                “Where?” he asked.

                “Down the middle path,” she murmured, quivering.

                When they turned the corner of the path she stood still. In the wide walk between the pines, gazing rather frightened, she could distinguish nothing for some moments; the graying light robbed things of their colour. Then she saw her bush.

                It was very still. The tree was tall and straggling. It had thrown its briars over a hawthorn-bush, and its long streamers trailed thick, right down to the grass, splashing the darkness everywhere with great split stars, pure white. In bosses of ivory and in large splashed stars the roses gleamed on the darkness of foliage and stems and grass. Paul and Miriam stood close together, silent, and watched. Point after point the steady roses shone out to them, seeming to kindle something in their souls. The dusk came like smoke around, and still did not put out the roses.

Notes and exercises:

1.       The letter “l” is silent in the following words:

Ü      walk, balm, talk, alms, colonel, calf, palm, folk, could, half, almond, chalk, qualm, should, Malcolm, calm, stalk, salmon, would.

2.     The following words are spelt with a double “g”:

straggle	niggard	aggrandize	goggle	soggy
egg	toboggan	aggregate	struggle	foggy
haggard	aggressor	giggle	joggle	beggar
dagger	aggression	jiggle	smuggle	digger
braggart	aggrieve	wriggle	smuggler	gravedigger
trigger	aggravate	juggle	boggy	baggage

3.            Spell the words given in phonetic transcription:

¤      “What’s up?”—”One of the snakes has got [lu:s].”

¤      We decided to [lu:z] no time in beginning the work.

¤      Is there a [´kÙb¶(r)d] in your kitchen?

¤      A man who is paid to drive and look after a private motor-car is called a [òouf¶(r)].

¤      When you register a letter or send money by post you get a [ri´si:t].

¤      [pr¶´fes¶(r)] Turner made a [´qÙr¶] study of the problem.

¤      What plays by this [´pleirait] do you know?

¤      Don’t sit in the [dra:ft]; you’ll catch a cold.

¤      In this area [drauts] are rare [¶´kÙr¶nsiz].

¤      I want to buy a few more [´græm¶foun] records.

4.     Word study:

communion                  (here) one and the same mystical feeling

mother-of-pearl          hard, smooth, shiny, rainbow coloured material that forms the lining of some shells, used for making buttons, ornaments, etc.

boss                                a round metal knob or stud on a shield or as an ornament

5.     Translate the following expressions and use them in sentences of your own:

by the time they came to the pine-trees, at this time of day (at the present state of affairs; at this point), before one’s time (before one was born; too early), to bide one’s time (to wait patiently), overtime (extra time; additional hours of work), part-time (time which does not occupy all the working day), to be pressed for time (to be short of time, to be very busy), to take time by the forelock (to strike while the iron is hot), time on one’s hands (time to waste, spare time), time out of mind (time immemorial), times out of number, times without number (many times), to work against time (to use efforts to finish a piece of work within a stated time)