In Apocalypse (1930), D. H. Lawrence discusses two concepts of time: time as linear and time as cyclical. While the former is the logical and ontological principle in modern, Christian society, the latter is that in the ancient, pagan world. Obviously Lawrence sets a high value on the latter.
This tendency of thinking of time as cyclical was already presented in his writings from 1914 to 1920. The notion of time developed in the philosophical essays, such as“The Crown”and“The Reality of Peace, ”comprises three characteristic aspects:“flux of creation, ”“timelessness”and“flux of corruption.”At the same time, Lawrence embodies his notion in The Rainbow and Women in Love. However, what Lawrence underlines in each novel differs; that is, Lawrence places special emphasis on the periodicity and repetition of time in The Rainbow, and the“flux of corruption”in Women in Love. This thematic change is related to his growing sense of crisis about the human situation in Western civilization.