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A SPIRITUAL WOMAN by D. H. Lawrence

Summary, meaning, line-by-line analysis & FAQ.

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A man begs the woman he loves to stop dissecting him so clinically and simply allow herself to experience emotions.

Poet
D. H. Lawrence
Themes
anger, doubt, identity
The PoemFull text

A SPIRITUAL WOMAN

D. H. Lawrence

CLOSE your eyes, my love, let me make you blind; They have taught you to see Only a mean arithmetic on the face of things, A cunning algebra in the faces of men, And God like geometry Completing his circles, and working cleverly. I'll kiss you over the eyes till I kiss you blind; If I can--if any one could. Then perhaps in the dark you'll have got what you want to find. You've discovered so many bits, with your clever eyes, And I'm a kaleidoscope That you shake and shake, and yet it won't come to your mind. Now stop carping at me.--But God, how I hate you! Do you fear I shall swindle you? Do you think if you take me as I am, that that will abate you Somehow?--so sad, so intrinsic, so spiritual, yet so cautious, you Must have me all in your will and your consciousness-- I hate you.

Public domain

Sourced from Project Gutenberg

§01Quick summary

What this poem is about

A man begs the woman he loves to stop dissecting him so clinically and simply allow herself to experience emotions. She has transformed love into a riddle to be unraveled with her mind, and he finds that infuriating — so infuriating that his frustration spills over into a genuine, heartfelt expression of hatred. The poem reflects the draining struggle between someone who loves naturally and someone who can only express love through control.

§02Themes

Recurring themes

§03Line by line

Stanza by stanza, with notes

  1. CLOSE your eyes, my love, let me make you blind; / They have taught you to see

    Editor's note

    The speaker begins with a gentle-sounding command that reveals his desperation. He wants her to stop *seeing*—that is, to stop analyzing and quantifying. The use of "they" shifts the blame to society or education for conditioning her to reduce everything, even love and God, to rigid systems: arithmetic, algebra, and geometry. These aren't just random examples; they represent strict, impersonal disciplines, and Lawrence employs them to illustrate how deeply her mind has been overtaken by rational thinking.

  2. I'll kiss you over the eyes till I kiss you blind; / If I can--if any one could.

    Editor's note

    The speaker attempts to provide a physical, sensual remedy for her overthinking — kisses that actually close her eyes. However, the parenthetical "if I can—if anyone could" quickly undermines the act. He questions whether it will be effective. Her tendency to analyze seems so ingrained that he doubts any lover could truly penetrate it. The dash and the self-correction lend the line a candid, conversational tone.

  3. Then perhaps in the dark you'll have got what you want to find. / You've discovered so many bits, with your clever eyes,

    Editor's note

    He proposes that only in sensory darkness — free from her analytical scrutiny — can she truly encounter what she has been searching for intellectually. "Bits" is a sharp term: all her insightful observations have provided her with pieces, never the complete picture. The sarcasm in "clever eyes" is soft yet incisive.

  4. And I'm a kaleidoscope / That you shake and shake, and yet it won't come to your mind.

    Editor's note

    This is the poem's most striking image. A kaleidoscope creates stunning, shifting patterns that can never be confined to one fixed picture — and that's precisely what he represents. She continues to shake him, attempting to force him into a form she can mentally categorize and own, but he won't stay still. This image suggests that her approach is flawed: the more you shake a kaleidoscope, the more it transforms.

  5. Now stop carping at me.--But God, how I hate you! / Do you fear I shall swindle you?

    Editor's note

    The poem shifts here to a more raw and honest tone. The speaker abandons the pleading voice and reveals his true emotion: hatred. It's a jarring word to find in a love poem, but Lawrence uses it earnestly—this is the hatred that arises from unfulfilled love. He then reflects her suspicion back at her: does she believe he is trying to deceive her? This question highlights how her wariness has tainted their relationship.

  6. Do you think if you take me as I am, that that will abate you / Somehow?--so sad, so intrinsic, so spiritual, yet so cautious, you

    Editor's note

    "Abate you" is an uncommon expression—it means to diminish or reduce her. He is questioning if she worries that embracing love in its true form might make her feel less. The series of adjectives—sad, intrinsic, spiritual, cautious—paints a picture he has crafted of her throughout their time together, and the combination of "spiritual" with "cautious" captures the poem's main irony: she has a spiritual side but is too guarded to allow that spirit to truly influence her.

  7. Must have me all in your will and your consciousness-- / I hate you.

    Editor's note

    The poem wraps up emotionally where it started, but now the hatred is expressed directly, without the cushion of "God, how." "Will and consciousness" are her twin tools of control: she aims to claim him through careful choice and complete mental grasp. For Lawrence, who thought that the most profound human experiences go beyond intellect, this represents love's ultimate failure. The stark final line hits hard, like a door slamming shut.

§04Tone & mood

How this poem feels

The tone takes a distinct journey: it begins softly and encouragingly, transitions into tired sarcasm, and culminates in unapologetic anger. Lawrence doesn’t soften any of the rough parts. The speaker’s voice feels authentically spontaneous—he interrupts himself, makes corrections, and allows conflicting emotions (love and hatred) to coexist without trying to resolve them. That rawness is intentional.

§05Symbols & metaphors

Symbols & metaphors

Arithmetic, algebra, geometry
These three mathematical disciplines represent the woman's tendency to simplify everything — even love and God — into systems and rules. Lawrence arranges them in increasing order of abstraction to illustrate how thoroughly rationalism has dominated her perspective on the world.
Blindness / closed eyes
Sight here symbolizes analytical consciousness. Being made blind isn’t a punishment; it’s a liberation—a means of experiencing the world through feeling instead of calculation. The speaker wants her to stop *seeing* so she can begin *knowing* on a deeper level.
The kaleidoscope
The speaker sees himself as a shifting, beautiful being that defies any fixed pattern. This also highlights the futility of her approach — no matter how hard she shakes the kaleidoscope, it never creates a lasting image, only more change.
God as geometry
By depicting God as a geometer who "completes his circles," the woman has transformed the divine into something mechanical and predictable. Lawrence highlights that her rationalism eliminates any sense of mystery — in love or in faith.
Darkness
Darkness isn't menacing in this place; instead, it's a realm where instinct and emotion can flow freely, unhindered by logical thought. The speaker thinks she may finally discover what she seeks when she stops attempting to visualize it.

§06Historical context

Historical context

D. H. Lawrence wrote this poem in the early 1900s, a time when he was exploring his lifelong criticism of what he viewed as the stifling impact of modern rationalism on human connections. He felt that industrial society, with its focus on intellect, science, and self-discipline, had alienated people from their instinctual, physical selves. His novels — *Sons and Lovers*, *Women in Love*, *Lady Chatterley's Lover* — repeatedly revisit this struggle. "A Spiritual Woman" is part of his early poetry collection *Amores* (1916), which reflects heavily on his own tumultuous relationships. The title is intentionally ironic: the woman’s spirituality isn’t about transcendence but serves as a form of emotional armor, a method of rising above the chaotic, uncontrollable nature of love. Lawrence was also pushing back against the Victorian ideal of the refined, intellectual woman, which he saw as a cultural prison.

§07FAQ

Questions readers ask

Lawrence expresses psychological honesty instead of resorting to drama. The hatred is genuine, but it coexists with love rather than taking its place. The speaker is angry because her unwillingness to let go of her analytical control prevents true intimacy. His love for her remains — it's the barrier she's created that he despises, and by the poem's conclusion, those two emotions become intertwined.

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