SOURCE: Clark, L. D. “The Bright Doorway.” In The Minoan Distance: The Symbolism of Travel in D. H. Lawrence, pp. 26-39. Tucson, Ariz.: University of Arizona Press, 1980.

In the following excerpt, Clark traces the influence of D. H. Lawrence's “rootless” years on the subject matter and evolution of his poetry.

No experience went deeper with Lawrence than the forging on into unknown places. In the re-creation of his travel adventures, this two-fold response of the male and the female is common also, elaborated often with the overtones of religious pilgrimage. We note above that Ursula has her heart set on the goal, the paradise, while to Birkin the journey itself is all in all. In Lawrence the woman perennially seeks a point, a fixed center, while the man seeks an outflinging of movement for its own sake. These are the complementary halves of any venture.

One of the...