‘The Ship of Death’における「光と闇」

D. トマスとの比較試論

抄録

This paper aims to make clear the differences between Lawrence and Thomas in their usage of the dichotomy image-light and darkness. Here we will deal with Lawrence's “The Ship of Death” and some of Thomas' early works, which are written at almost the same time.
In Chapter 1, we survey how the image has been accepted in the conventional European thought, referring to the very beginning of Genesis.
In Chapter 2, we re-read the text of “The Ship of Death” with special attention to the transition of the color images used there, and then point out that Lawrence the poet is distorted by his own written text. He comes to be caught in a snare of the self contradiction. Even Lawrence cannot escape from the strong flow from darkness to light.
In Chapter 3, we will examine some of Thomas's poems and point out that the dichotomy of light and death itself is completely broken in his poetic world. This seems to be caused by the fact that his language always tries to flee from the stabilized meanings.
In the last chapter, we summarize our discussion and conclude by showing the possibility that their differences may be derived from those of their fields of creation, that is, prose and verse.