Tortoises

Lawrence, D. H. (David Herbert), 1885-1930Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.5

Word count: 18K words
Chapters: 2

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Tortoises by D. H. LawrenceAuthor: Lawrence, D. H. (David Herbert), 1885-1930,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Aug 31, 2007

Editor's review

Tortoises is a short poem by D. H. Lawrence that, despite its limited length, shows his enduring attention to natural life. Taking the tortoise as his subject, Lawrence blends observation, imagination and philosophical reflection in compressed, rhythmic language marked by his characteristic sensuous expression. For readers familiar with Lawrence's novels, this work offers a poetic entry point into his central themes, revealing how he projects his thinking about life instinct and existence onto an animal image. The electronic edition is provided by Project Gutenberg as a public-domain English text, convenient for searching, citation and repeated reading. Because it is an English original, reading it requires some grounding in English literature, especially a familiarity with the leaps and dense imagery of poetry. It suits use as supplementary material for a Lawrence unit in an English literature course, and rewards readers interested in nature poetry and animal poetry who take it slowly and attentively in quiet hours.

Who it's for

A good fit for

English literature students who need to study Lawrence's poetry
Poetry lovers interested in nature poetry and animal imagery
Researchers seeking to complement their understanding of Lawrence's themes from a poetic angle
Self-learners accustomed to reading English originals who prefer short works

Not a good fit for

Beginners with weak English reading skills who need Chinese annotations
Readers expecting plot-driven narrative or a novel-like experience
Newcomers seeking a systematic introduction to Lawrence's life and works

Reading tips

Read through once to feel the rhythm, then go section by section with a dictionary, noting how the tortoise image unfolds layer by layer.
Read alongside Lawrence's other nature writing to observe similarities and differences in his view of nature in poetry and fiction.
Reading aloud helps capture the feel and rhythm of the language, especially in such a short work.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book a novel or poetry?

Tortoises is a poem by D. H. Lawrence, taking the tortoise as its subject; it is not a novel. It is short and compressed in language, so it should be read slowly as poetry, attending to imagery and rhythm rather than looking for plot development.

Can I read it without having read other works by Lawrence?

Yes, you can read it directly, but knowing beforehand that Lawrence focuses on life instinct and natural existence will make the text easier to enter. If time is limited, read one or two of his more widely known short poems as a warm-up before returning to this work.

What should I keep in mind when reading the electronic edition?

The text comes from Project Gutenberg and is a public-domain English e-book. Use reading software that supports dictionary lookup and annotation to handle unfamiliar words and record imagery threads. When citing, check the edition information and how page locations are referenced.

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About the author

Lawrence, D. H. (David Herbert), 1885-1930 Author

D. H. Lawrence (David Herbert Lawrence, 1885–1930) was an English novelist, poet and essayist. The library holds 25 of his works, including the novels Sons and Lovers, The Rainbow, Women in Love and The Lost Girl, the short-story collections The Prussian Officer and England, My England, and the travel book Twilight in Italy. His writing often draws on mining and rural life and focuses on relations between men and women, class, and the pressure modern civilization places on individual vitality, with a candid style that is sensuous and psychologically searching, at once poetic and forceful. Because his work boldly touched on desire and social taboo, he was controversial in his lifetime and is now regarded as a major voice in twentieth-century English literature. Detailed information beyond his works is limited, so this note relies on the available works and established common knowledge.