AQA B Lit/Lang
Talk in Life and Literature
Sons and Lovers – analysing talk in literature
Resources

Extract from Sons and Lovers

Notes on key features of extract (can be used after students annotate passage)
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Writing frame
Purpose
This material is designed to be used as an early introduction to the study of talk in
literature, obviously in narrative/prose, and begins to prepare students for the
examination.
It is assumed that students will have started to analyse ‘everyday talk’ in transcripts and
have the beginnings of a critical vocabulary. Students may well have looked at another
prose passage before coming to Lawrence. (The opening to Jane Eyre is excellent for
this – up to where Jane is sent to the Red Room – as it presents clearly crafted dialogue
reflecting writing conventions of the time, as well as the time itself, and narrative with
explicit authorial content to complement this. As the opening to the novel, it is also a
good model for character and plot development.)
The Sons and Lovers extract is longer than those provided in the examination, but it
encourages students to explore the important links between dialogue and narrative, as
well as providing a challenging example of plot development.
The notes, for teacher and/or student use, highlight key features of the text. They
begin to establish essential aspects of how talk is crafted in literary texts and employ
some of the critical vocabulary students will increasingly be using. They are structured
to link with many of the aspects of analysing talk in literature found in existing AQA mark
schemes for this unit.
The writing frame is a useful tool for focusing students’ attention on responding
concisely and specifically to the text.
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Page 1 of 6
AQA B Lit/Lang
Talk in Life and Literature
Sons and Lovers extract (from the chapter ‘Defeat of
Miriam’)
Miriam came for him a little later to know if he would go with Clara and her for a walk.
They set off down to Strelley Mill Farm. As they were going beside the brook, on the
Willey Water side, looking through the brake at the edge of the wood, where pink
campions glowed under a few sun-beams, they saw, beyond the tree-trunks and the thin
hazel bushes, a man leading a great bay horse through the gullies. The big red beast
seemed to dance romantically through that dimness of green hazel drift, away there
where the air was shadowy, as if it were in the past, among the fading bluebells that
might have bloomed for Deirdre or Iseult.
The three stood charmed.
‘What a treat to be a knight,’ he said, ‘and to have a pavilion here.’
‘And to have us shut up safely?’ replied Clara.
‘Yes,’ he answered, ‘singing with your maids at your broidery. I would carry your banner
of white and green and heliotrope. I would have ‘W.S.P.U.’ emblazoned on my shield,
beneath a woman rampant.’
‘I have no doubt,’ said Clara, ‘that you would much rather fight for a woman than let her
fight for herself.’
‘I would. When she fights for herself she seems like a dog before a looking-glass, gone
into a mad fury with its own shadow.’
‘And you are the looking-glass?’ she asked, with a curl of the lip.
‘Or the shadow,’ he replied.
‘I am afraid,’ she said, ‘that you are too clever.’
‘Well, I leave it to you to be good,’ he retorted, laughing. ‘Be good, sweet maid, and just
let me be clever.’
But Clara wearied of his flippancy. Suddenly, looking at her, he saw that the upward
lifting of her face was misery and not scorn. His heart grew tender for everybody. He
turned and was gentle with Miriam, whom he had neglected till then.
At the wood’s edge they met Limb, a thin, swarthy man of forty, tenant of Strelley Mill,
which he ran as a cattle-raising farm. He held the halter of the powerful stallion
indifferently, as if he were tired. The three stood to let him pass over the stepping-stones
of the first brook. Paul admired that so large an animal should walk on such springy toes,
with an endless excess of vigour. Limb pulled up before them.
‘Tell your father, Miss Leivers,’ he said, in a peculiar piping voice, ‘that his young beas’es
’as broke that bottom fence three days an’ runnin’.’
‘Which?’ asked Miriam, tremulous.
The great horse breathed heavily, shifting round its red flanks, and looking suspiciously
with its wonderful big eyes upwards from under its lowered head and falling mane.
‘Come along a bit,’ replied Limb, ’an’ I’ll show you.’
The man and the stallion went forward. It danced sideways, shaking its white fetlocks
and looking frightened, as it felt itself in the brook.
‘No hanky-pankyin’,’ said the man affectionately to the beast.
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Page 2 of 6
AQA B Lit/Lang
Talk in Life and Literature
It went up the bank in little leaps, then splashed finely through the second brook. Clara,
walking with a kind of sulky abandon, watched it half-fascinated, half-contemptuous.
Limb stopped and pointed to the fence under some willows.
‘There, you see where they got through,’ he said. ‘My man’s druv ’em back three times.’
‘Yes,’ answered Miriam, colouring as if she were at fault.
‘Are you comin’ in?’ asked the man.
‘No, thanks; but we should like to go by the pond.’
‘Well, just as you’ve a mind,’ he said.
The horse gave little whinneys of pleasure at being so near home.
‘He is glad to be back,’ said Clara, who was interested in the creature.
‘Yes—’e’s been a tidy step to-day.’
They went through the gate, and saw approaching them from the big farmhouse a
smallish, dark, excitable-looking woman of about thirty-five. Her hair was touched with
grey, her dark eyes looked wild. She walked with her hands behind her back. Her brother
went forward. As it saw her, the big bay stallion whinneyed again. She came up excitedly.
‘Are you home again, my boy!’ she said tenderly to the horse, not to the man. The great
beast shifted round to her, ducking his head. She smuggled into his mouth the wrinkled
yellow apple she had been hiding behind her back, then she kissed him near the eyes. He
gave a big sigh of pleasure. She held his head in her arms against her breast.
‘Isn’t he splendid!’ said Miriam to her.
Miss Limb looked up. Her dark eyes glanced straight at Paul.
‘Oh, good-evening, Miss Leivers,’ she said. ‘It’s ages since you’ve been down.’
Miriam introduced her friends.
‘Your horse is a fine fellow!’ said Clara.
‘Isn’t he!’ Again she kissed him. ‘As loving as any man!’
‘More loving than most men, I should think,’ replied Clara.
‘He’s a nice boy!’ cried the woman, again embracing the horse.
Clara, fascinated by the big beast, went up to stroke his neck.
‘He’s quite gentle,’ said Miss Limb. ‘Don’t you think big fellows are?’
‘He’s a beauty!’ replied Clara.
She wanted to look in his eyes. She wanted him to look at her.
‘It’s a pity he can’t talk,’ she said.
‘Oh, but he can—all but,’ replied the other woman.
Then her brother moved on with the horse.
‘Are you coming in? Do come in, Mr—I didn’t catch it.’
‘Morel,’ said Miriam. ‘No, we won’t come in, but we should like to go by the mill-pond.’
‘Yes—yes, do. Do you fish, Mr Morel?’
‘No,’ said Paul.
‘Because if you do you might come and fish any time,’ said Miss Limb. ‘We scarcely see a
soul from week’s end to week’s end. I should be thankful.’
‘What fish are there in the pond?’ he asked.
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Page 3 of 6
AQA B Lit/Lang
Talk in Life and Literature
Sons and Lovers – Analysing talk in literature
Notes
Contextual details
Sons and Lovers was written in 1913. This extract, from the chapter ‘Defeat of Miriam’,
shows Paul Morel with his girlfriend Miriam Leivers and her friend Clara Dawes. Paul is
considering breaking up with Miriam and this is the first time he has met Clara.
Key features
Crafted talk

Opening flirtatious banter

Generally complex and clever lexis; semantic field opens the ‘sexism’ debate
(knight; pavilion; maids; broidery; banner; W.S.U.P; shield; rampant); verbal
sparring (‘like a dog before a looking-glass, gone into a mad fury with its own
shadow’; ‘And you are the looking-glass’; ‘Or the shadow’; ‘you are too clever’;
‘Be good, sweet maid, and just let me be clever.’)

Limb’s regional voice as contrast to main characters’ voices; some phonetic
representation/contraction of words; colloquialisms

Crafted adjacency pairs in dialogue between Limb’s sister and Clara

Closing phatic talk as contrast (as this extract is presented)

Occasional graphological presentation of words (in italics) to denote emphasis
Character development

Paul Morel – clever and articulate; sexist (though context of time is relevant);
emotional

Clara Dawes – equally clever and articulate; suffragette; confident - even feisty

Miriam Leivers – fragile and vulnerable; timid
Plot development

Male/female roles; women’s emancipation; male and female sexuality – there is a
clear ‘sexist’ battle being developed in this brief extract and one would assume it
will continue

The antagonistic relationship between Paul and Clara might develop into
something closer (linked to ‘sexist’ theme); the tense relationship between Paul
and Miriam may deteriorate
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AQA B Lit/Lang
Talk in Life and Literature
Authorial voice/narrative details



Paul’s emotive nature: ‘His heart grew tender for everybody … He turned and
was gentle with Miriam, whom he had neglected till then’
Clara’s strength of character: ‘But Clara wearied of his flippancy.’
Descriptive (sometimes adverbial/adjectival) language to underpin tone of the
talk: ‘she asked, with a curl of the lip’; ‘he retorted, laughing’; ‘asked Miriam,
tremulous’; ‘said the man affectionately’; ‘walking with a kind of sulky abandon’;
‘She came up excitedly.’
Literary/figurative features

First paragraph’s ‘romantic/mythical’ setting, with reference to Deidre and Iseult,
to provide context for opening talk about knights and maids

Stallion as metaphor for sexuality – established both through the talk (banter)
about male/female roles and qualities, and narrative detail (the following can
seem gratuitous, but that is the nature of Lawrence’s art!): ‘The big red beast
seemed to dance romantically’; ‘the powerful stallion’; ‘an endless excess of
vigour’; ‘great horse breathed heavily … looking suspiciously with its wonderful
big eyes’; ‘looking frightened, as it felt itself in the brook’; ‘No hanky-pankyin’;
‘watched it half-fascinated, half-contemptuous’; ‘The horse gave little whinneys
of pleasure’; ‘The great beast shifted round to her’; ‘She held his head in her
arms against her breast’; ‘Your horse is a fine fellow’; ‘As loving as any man’;
‘Clara, fascinated by the big beast’; ‘ “He’s quite gentle,” said Miss Limb. “Don’t
you think big fellows are?” ’; ‘She wanted to look in his eyes. She wanted him to
look at her’
Attitudes and values

Paul, Clara, Miriam and Limb’s sister are: fraught, excitable, anxious, antagonistic
and over-wrought

Limb is by contrast quite neutral

Attitudes to male and female roles are being debated both implicitly and
explicitly: there is clear tension and a sense of an emerging stance for female
rights and emancipation

The attitude of the third person narrative is often suggestive and emotive

Social values are represented through the varying status relationships: Limb and
his sister provide some sense of class difference; male/female roles are, in the
context of 1913, examined and challenged

Generally equal length of turns in conversations

Formal modes of address between Limb/sister and Paul and Miriam

Assertive voice and lexis of Clara
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Page 5 of 6
AQA B Lit/Lang
Talk in Life and Literature
Analysing Sons and Lovers extract – writing frame

The opening playful, flirtatious banter …

In analysing the opening talk at the lexical level, words like ‘heliotrope’, ‘knight’,
‘maiden’ (etc.) signal the crafted nature of …

Clara’s assertive responses are part of her character development. For example …

The crafted adjacency pairs in this opening banter suggest …

The struggle for status in the opening few lines of dialogue …

Lawrence’s narrative description helps us as readers to understand the
characters, for example in describing Clara’s ‘curl of the lip’ and how she
‘retorted’ …

The exaggerated nature of the dialogue is reinforced by adjectival descriptions
such as ‘Miriam was tremulous’ …

The introduction of Limb allows Lawrence to present a character speaking
differently to Paul and Miriam. Limb’s non-standard English and colloquialisms,
for example …

The introduction of the stallion into this scene is interesting because it seems to
be a metaphor for maleness, or male sexuality, and this adds to the plot
development of …

The narrative description of the horse with Limb’s sister … and Clara’s references
to the horse as … confirm that the plot development in this scene is the power
struggle between …

The scene ends on a phatic note with …
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