D.H. Lawrence

"Whales Weep Not"

"Whales Weep Not" is an ode to the majesty of the whales.  What is most interesting about the content of the poem is Lawrence's romantic descriptions of biological processes and behaviors.  The act of mating, the nursing of the calves, the defensive capacities of whales to protect one another are all presented with a tone of admiration and empathy.  The description of mating between whales is particularly grandiose;
"Then the great bull lies up against his bride
in the blue deep bed of the sea,
as mountain pressing on mountain, in the zest of life:
and out of the inward roaring of the inner red ocean of whale blood
the long tip reaches strong, intense, like the maelstrom-tip, and comes
to rest
in the clasp and the soft, wild clutch of a she-whale's fathomless body."

The poet's description of the whales in human terms paired with his starkly honest descriptions of whales' social behaviors does much to place sexuality back in its proper realm; nature.  This notion of sexuality as something beautiful and natural is in contrast to the treatment of sexuality as something shameful, unspoken, hidden and dark.
Lawrence likens the whales unto angels multiple times:
"the burning archangels under the sea..."
"archangels of bliss"
"...great Cherubim"
"...like great fierce Seraphim..."
Onto the whales, Lawrence projects anthropomorphic feelings of bliss and longing and in doing so he idealizes the lives of the whales in their realms.  It is as if the whales are no different from human beings in some ways and that by describing their behaviors in human terms, we feel connected to them.  Lawrence's whales are majestic, mysterious and emotional beings.  In one instance, the poet compares the whales to gods and later describes the realm of the whales in heavenly terms;
"And all this happens in the sea, in the salt
where God is also love, but without words:
and Aphrodite is the wife of the whales
most happy, happy she!"

The language is prose-like and without rhyming yet smooth and lyrical without awkward stops and pauses.  The effect is ode-like but without formal structure.  The piece reads like a hymn but one which exonerates nature and sexuality from the condemnation of the western Judeo-Christian traditions.