BALLAD OF ANOTHER OPHELIA by D. H. Lawrence: Summary, Meaning & Analysis
A young woman, echoing Shakespeare's Ophelia, has been lured in and left behind, and the poem narrates her experience through the imagery of a rainy orchard, a brown hen mourning her lost chicks to a rat, and apples that fail to ripen.
The poem
OH the green glimmer of apples in the orchard, Lamps in a wash of rain! Oh the wet walk of my brown hen through the stack-yard, Oh tears on the window pane! Nothing now will ripen the bright green apples, Full of disappointment and of rain, Brackish they will taste, of tears, when the yellow dapples Of autumn tell the withered tale again. All round the yard it is cluck, my brown hen, Cluck, and the rain-wet wings, Cluck, my marigold bird, and again Cluck for your yellow darlings. For the grey rat found the gold thirteen Huddled away in the dark, Flutter for a moment, oh the beast is quick and keen, Extinct one yellow-fluffy spark. Once I had a lover bright like running water, Once his face was laughing like the sky; Open like the sky looking down in all its laughter On the buttercups, and the buttercups was I. What, then, is there hidden in the skirts of all the blossom? What is peeping from your wings, oh mother hen? 'Tis the sun who asks the question, in a lovely haste for wisdom; What a lovely haste for wisdom is in men! Yea, but it is cruel when undressed is all the blossom, And her shift is lying white upon the floor, That a grey one, like a shadow, like a rat, a thief, a rain-storm, Creeps upon her then and gathers in his store. Oh the grey garner that is full of half-grown apples, Oh the golden sparkles laid extinct! And oh, behind the cloud-sheaves, like yellow autumn dapples, Did you see the wicked sun that winked!
A young woman, echoing Shakespeare's Ophelia, has been lured in and left behind, and the poem narrates her experience through the imagery of a rainy orchard, a brown hen mourning her lost chicks to a rat, and apples that fail to ripen. Lawrence weaves these rural images together, allowing the hen's grief, the stolen chicks, and the spoiled fruit to symbolize the woman's lost innocence and unfaithful love. By the end, even the sun is drawn in, acting as a winking, aware accomplice in this harsh reality.
Line-by-line
OH the green glimmer of apples in the orchard, / Lamps in a wash of rain!
Nothing now will ripen the bright green apples, / Full of disappointment and of rain,
All round the yard it is cluck, my brown hen, / Cluck, and the rain-wet wings,
For the grey rat found the gold thirteen / Huddled away in the dark,
Once I had a lover bright like running water, / Once his face was laughing like the sky;
What, then, is there hidden in the skirts of all the blossom? / What is peeping from your wings, oh mother hen?
Yea, but it is cruel when undressed is all the blossom, / And her shift is lying white upon the floor,
Oh the grey garner that is full of half-grown apples, / Oh the golden sparkles laid extinct!
Tone & mood
The tone is mournful and tender at its core, yet it carries a bitter edge that becomes sharper as the poem progresses. Lawrence begins with a lyrical lament—those prolonged 'Oh' cries resonate like someone grieving openly—and gradually allows irony to seep in through the sun's 'lovely haste for wisdom' before concluding with a hint of cold fury in that final wink. It never fully transforms into rage; it remains within a sorrowful tone that clearly identifies who is responsible.
Symbols & metaphors
- The unripe green apples — Potential that will never be realized. The apples should ripen into sweetness but remain green and bitter — tasting of sorrow. They symbolize the woman's life and joy, abruptly halted before they had a chance to flourish.
- The brown hen and her chicks — The hen reflects the woman: nurturing, vulnerable, and ultimately powerless to safeguard what she cherishes. The thirteen golden chicks taken by the rat symbolize the woman's lost innocence and the children she may never bear.
- The grey rat — The seducer is cold, opportunistic, and predatory. Grey contrasts him with the gold and green of the poem's natural world. He takes and hoards without a hint of emotion, then vanishes.
- The winking sun — The most disturbing symbol in the poem is the sun. Typically a source of warmth and life, it emerges at the end as a knowing, complicit observer. Its wink draws in the broader world — nature, society, and men as a whole — in the woman's downfall.
- Blossom and undressing — The blossom being 'undressed' serves as Lawrence's clear metaphor for seduction. What appears to be a natural flowering is depicted as exposure and vulnerability—something exploited rather than appreciated.
- Rain — Rain permeates the entire poem, acting as a force that halts growth and symbolizes tears. This isn't the kind of rain that cleanses or nourishes; it's cold, relentless, and tied to disappointment right from the first stanza.
Historical context
D. H. Lawrence wrote this poem early in his career, likely between 1910 and 1913, as he grappled with the influences of the English Romantic and Victorian traditions while moving towards something more raw. The title references Ophelia from Shakespeare's *Hamlet* — a young woman who descends into madness and death after being seduced, used, and abandoned by the men in her life. Lawrence was deeply concerned with the harm inflicted on women by male desire and societal norms, a theme that also appears throughout his novels. The poem is set in the rural Midlands, a landscape familiar to him from childhood — with orchards, farmyards, and brown hens — which he uses to explore themes of sexual betrayal without being explicit. It was published in his 1913 collection *Love Poems and Others*.
FAQ
Ophelia is a character in Shakespeare's *Hamlet* who is seduced by Hamlet, only to be rejected, leading her to spiral into madness and ultimately drown. Lawrence employs her as a symbol for any young woman whose life is ruined by a man's desire and indifference. His reference to 'another' Ophelia suggests that this isn't just an isolated incident—it’s a recurring tragedy affecting everyday women in common settings, like a rainy English farmyard.
The rat represents the seducer—the man who took the woman's innocence and then disappeared. Lawrence paints him as grey, cold, and quick, contrasting sharply with everything warm and golden in the poem. He 'gathers in his store' like a thief hoarding what doesn't belong to him, then simply vanishes. The rat that kills the chicks and the man who seduces the woman are essentially performing the same act, recounted in two ways.
The green apples symbolize a life that never reached its full potential. In the poem, ripeness signifies joy, love, and a fulfilling existence — but the rain and betrayal have ensured that none of that comes to pass. The apples will taste salty, like tears, reflecting Lawrence's message that everything that was meant to be sweet has been spoiled.
The wink is the poem's most unsettling moment. The sun has observed everything — the seduction, the loss, the grief — and rather than reacting with horror, it winks. This makes the sun complicit, representing a society or natural order that witnesses the exploitation of women and treats it lightly, or at least as business as usual. It transforms the poem's sorrow into something more like a condemnation.
It shifts. Most of the poem is told from an outside perspective, depicting the orchard and the hen. However, stanza five — 'Once I had a lover bright like running water' — unmistakably reveals the woman's voice coming through. Lawrence blurs the boundary between narrator and subject, making it feel as though the woman's grief seeps into the landscape around her, reminiscent of how Ophelia's madness spills into her flower-giving and singing.
A shift is an undergarment — the last piece a woman would take off. Lawrence captures the moment of seduction in straightforward yet subtle language. The white shift lying on the floor symbolizes total vulnerability, and it’s right at this moment that the grey rat-like figure sneaks in. The contrast between the white garment and the grey predator is intentional and striking.
Ballads have long been the way to share tales of love, loss, and betrayal—imagine folk songs about women left behind or harmed by unfaithful men. By labeling this as a ballad and incorporating its loose, song-like stanzas along with repeated 'Oh' cries, Lawrence connects his modern woman to a historic lineage of victims. The form communicates: this story has roots that stretch back to the dawn of storytelling.
Lawrence's novels — *Sons and Lovers*, *The Rainbow*, *Women in Love* — depict women striving to embrace life in a world that restricts them. This poem captures that same struggle in a more condensed form. The conflict between natural vitality (represented by the golden chicks, ripe apples, and the laughing lover) and the harsh forces that undermine it is the main theme of Lawrence's work, expressed here in eight stanzas instead of four hundred pages.