POETRY REVIEW D H LAWRENCE EAGLE IN NEW MEXICO

The American Eagle became a particular favourite subject of Lawrence’s later verse, and here, he marvels at its ability and willingness to hover directly in front of the mid-day Sun, in some ritual of celebration for a prey kill, a sacrificial gesture before the Sun-gods as presented by the Aztecs and Incas of old.

Lawrence admires the eagle for its armoury of talons and razor sharp beak. He anthropomorphises the eagle into a temple priest of an ancient cult in the Sun’s honour.

Lawrence tells the bird that he is not afraid of it or its gods and tells it that man is even better at spilling blood than the formidable hunting bird, and capable of sacrificing many more living things to its deity than any Eagle. He is clearly referring to the religious massacres committed by Christians, especial the Conquistadors who drove the Indians out of much of the Americas.  This is a reference to human inhumanity in the name of superstitious beliefs.

The eagle quietly soars, as if somehow in direct communion with its Sun God, while mankind has no such direct communication with his.  Lawrence would touch on these themes in his novel The Plumed Serpent too.

Arthur Chappell