Self-Pity

By D. H. Lawrence
 -Born in England in 1885

-Regarded as one of the most

influential writers of the 20th
century.

● He published many novels and

About poetry volumes during his

lifetime, including Sons and

D. H. Lawrence Lovers and Women in Love

● best known for his infamous
Lady Chatterley's Lover.

-His working-class background and

the tensions between his parents
provided the raw material for a
number of his early works.
Why Self-Pity?
Lawrence wrote almost 800
poems, most of them
relatively short.
Among his poems, there were
many left unpublished due to
censorship.
‘Self-Pity’ is one of the
shortest poems D. H.
Lawrence ever wrote, and,
unlike Sons and Lovers or a
poem like ‘Snake’, it is not as
well-known among his
oeuvre.
His best-known poems are probably those dealing with nature such as those
in the collection Birds, Beasts and Flowers, including the Tortoise poems,
and "Snake", one of his most frequently anthologised, displays some of his
most frequent concerns: those of man's modern distance from nature and
subtle hints at religious themes.
 I never saw a wild thing
sorry for itself.
A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough
without ever having felt sorry for itself.
 -Self-Pity by D.H Lawrence is a short poem about
self-pity and the fear of death in humans. It is a short,
inspirational poem written by D.H Lawrence which
inspires the readers to move on in life, not to grieve over
their past misfortunes and not to fear the unavoidable
death

● ‘Self-Pity’ is what D. H. Lawrence himself

What is Self-pity described as a ‘pansy’: like the flower, this poem is
a pensée, a little thought, not meant to be anything

about? ●
grander or more sustained.
Like the imagist poems written by his fellow
modernists (and it’s worth noting that, although he
wasn’t a bona fide imagist, Lawrence appeared in
the earliest imagist anthology edited by Ezra Pound
in 1914), ‘Self-Pity’ is brief, fleeting, momentary,
focused on a single observation, expressed in clear
language and free verse.

●
 What is Self-Pity about?
-Self-Pity by D.H Lawrence is a short poem about self-pity and the fear of death in
humans. It is a short, inspirational poem written by D.H Lawrence which inspires the
readers to move on in life, not to grieve over their past misfortunes and not to fear the
unavoidable death

● ‘Self-Pity’ is what D. H. Lawrence himself described as a ‘pansy’: like the flower,

this poem is a pensée, a little thought, not meant to be anything grander or more
sustained.
● Like the imagist poems written by his fellow modernists (and it’s worth noting
that, although he wasn’t a bona fide imagist, Lawrence appeared in the earliest
imagist anthology edited by Ezra Pound in 1914), ‘Self-Pity’ is brief, fleeting,
momentary, focused on a single observation, expressed in clear language and free
verse.
In a Nutshell
2
1
● Lawrence wants the reader to
● Usually humans will dwell
know the insignificance of self
on things that have went
pity whenever he says “A little
wrong in the past, while an
bird will drop iced dead from a
animal will take life’s
bough”, a bird being very small
imperfections and keep
compared to the human; will
living without thinking
simply accept death as it will
twice.
come without feeling sorry
about the upshot of life.
Self-pity will
solve nothing,

live in the
moment.
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