Comparative Analysis in Symbols: D. H. Lawrence’s Women in Love and Rumi’s Mystical Poetry

Abstract

There is an unending critical chasm regarding the roots of Lawrence’s strange theology of ‘dark gods. His fiction such as Women in Love reveals a pretentious and dull world of extended symbols. Most prominent symbols are associated with sexual contents where characters are acutely aware of each other’s sexuality. Therefore, it is evident that many readers are unable to grasp Lawrence’s world, apparently because of his literary sensibility of rich religious symbolism. Furthermore, Lawrence’s ideas and symbols can be seen in the critical tradition of psychoanalysis and in post-modern fashion. This paper argues that symbols in Lawrence’s fiction, particularly in his Woman in Love have a religious and mystical connotation. This aspect of Lawrence’s symbolism can be appreciated profitably with some parallel analysis of Rumi’s mystical poetry. The paper has taken most prominent themes of love, ecstasy and union and their symbolic delineation in Woman in Love, analyzing them with Rumi’s handling of the aforementioned themes. Lawrence’s religious vision is clear in his use of biblical symbols in his fiction, however, his world is not based on Biblical world alone, for he calls Bible the Jewish moral book and a stick to beat an immoral dog, however, he was very much fascinated by the symbols and fantasies in the Apocalypse. He says that symbols in the Apocalypse lead us to the Chaldean and to Persian. There is a deep connection between Lawrence`s appreciation of ancient eastern myths and his use of symbolism, as this paper has argued, reveals a connection between Lawrence`s symbolism and the ancient Persian religions and medieval Sufism of Rumi and others, which has influenced Lawrence’s imaginations.

Keywords: love, mystical, symbolism