Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


MALADE by DAVID HERBERT LAWRENCE

Poet Analysis

First Line: THE SICK GRAPES ON THE CHAIR BY THE BED LIE PRONE
Last Line: AH, BUT I AM ILL, AND IT IS STILL RAINING, COLDLY RAINING!
Subject(s): SICKNESS; ILLNESS;

THE sick grapes on the chair by the bed lie prone; at the window
The tassel of the blind swings gently, tapping the pane,
As the air moves in.

The room is the hollow rind of a fruit, a gourd
Scooped out and bare, where a spider,
Folded in its legs as in a bed,
Lies on the dust, watching where is nothing to see but dusky walls.

And if the day outside were mine! What is the day
But a grey cave, with great grey spider-cloths hanging
Low from the roof, and the wet dust falling softly from them
Over the wet dark rocks, the houses, and over
The spiders with white faces, that scuttle on the floor of the cave!

Ah, but I am ill, and it is still raining, coldly raining!




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