"The Shades of Spring"(1914), which is one of D. H. Lawrence's early short stories, deserves notice on these three grounds: that the final version of this story was published after six elaborate changes both in the manuscript and in the title on his part, that the world of this story is similar to the worlds of his main novels, and that this story shows no less than 30 kinds of plants in two different symbolic ways. The last seems most interesting. In this paper"The Shades of Spring"is studied from two view points of`the dual symbolism in the descriptions of plants'and of `intuition', which are closely related to each other. `The dual symbolism in the descriptions of plants'can be briefly said like the following. On the one hand, using many symbols of plant-lore, the author intentionally suggests the human relationships and the plot, and then confirms them by his narration. On the other hand, he makes beautiful and vivid descriptions of plants on several scenes, where the protagonist, Syson, is deeply fascinated with their beauty independently of his thought. Those descriptions, appealing to the readers' senses, spontaneously combine to produce one symbol finally. The author doesn't seem to intend to describe each beautiful plant individually as a symbol, but through the whole story all of those descriptions seem to become one symbol. They are symbolic of just plants' and a woman's bright life fostered by the soil in spring. Such dual symbolism of plants works well to convey the theme of this short story, being also backed up by the author's narration. The theme is that any life fostered by the soil can be equally praised and given its own world, which should not be trespassed by anything else. Furthermore, the author's genius as well as the value of this short story is found in`the dual symbolism in the descriptions of plants'. One side of the dual symbolism, which is originated in plant-lore and intentionally used to suggest the human relationships and the plot, tells us that the author was an extraordinarily intelligent English writer who had a remarkable skill and a great stock of knowledge to write with. The other side of the dual symbolism, which is a product of all the vivid and beautiful descriptions of plants, tells us that he was a man of `intuition'.With `intuition', any human being can be really aware of any life's brightness. The author, who had `intuition', was aware of any animate being's beautiful and vivid life. The protagonist, Syson, and his former sweetheart, Hylda, of"The Shades of Spring"can be also aware of it with `intuition'. Nowadays, Westernization has overspread all over the world, bringing much suffering to any life on the earth besides our economic development. D. H. Lawrence, an English man, criticized Western civilization for its lack of `intuition', and believed `intuition' to be the key to the world's promising future about 100 years ago. We will be able to reduce such suffering not only by making the most of our intelligence or traditional knowledge but also by reviving our `intuition'. It is this suggestion that "The Shades of Spring"makes for us .
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