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The Annotated Edition

BALLAD OF ANOTHER OPHELIA by D. H. Lawrence

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

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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.

Poet
D. H. Lawrence
Themes
betrayal, identity, nature
The PoemFull text

BALLAD OF ANOTHER OPHELIA

D. H. Lawrence

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!

Public domain

Sourced from Project Gutenberg

§01Quick summary

What this poem is about

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.

§02Themes

Recurring themes

§03Line by line

Stanza by stanza, with notes

  1. OH the green glimmer of apples in the orchard, / Lamps in a wash of rain!

    Editor's note

    Lawrence opens with a vivid sensory overload — green apples shining like lamps in the rain. The scene is striking yet unsettling: the rain dulls the light, and the unripe apples hint at something that hasn’t reached its potential and now never will. The exclamatory 'Oh' creates an emotional, almost mournful tone from the very first word.

  2. Nothing now will ripen the bright green apples, / Full of disappointment and of rain,

    Editor's note

    The opening's promise fades right away. The apples will remain green — bitter, unripe, filled with rain instead of sweetness. 'Brackish' fits perfectly: it describes a slightly salty taste, like tears mingling with water. Autumn, which should offer a harvest, will only highlight the loss. The unfulfilled ripening serves as the poem's main metaphor for a life that has been disrupted.

  3. All round the yard it is cluck, my brown hen, / Cluck, and the rain-wet wings,

    Editor's note

    The scene changes to a farmyard where a brown hen is calling to her chicks. Lawrence speaks to the hen softly, referring to her as 'my marigold bird.' This makes her seem like a representation of the woman, embodying a motherly role or a simpler, more innocent version of herself. The repeated 'cluck' echoes the hen's anxious, circling call.

  4. For the grey rat found the gold thirteen / Huddled away in the dark,

    Editor's note

    The rat shows up and takes out the chicks — thirteen golden fluffballs gone in a flash. The sudden violence is jarring after the gentle hen-stanza. "Extinct one yellow-fluffy spark" feels devastating in its tiny scope. The rat is grey, cold, and predatory, a character that will come back later as the seducer.

  5. Once I had a lover bright like running water, / Once his face was laughing like the sky;

    Editor's note

    Now the woman speaks in her own voice for the first time. She remembers her lover through images of light and openness—water, sky, buttercups—and she positions herself among those buttercups, something small and bright that is overlooked. The repeated 'Once' indicates that this brightness is now lost. The pastoral joy of the memory intensifies the feeling of loss.

  6. What, then, is there hidden in the skirts of all the blossom? / What is peeping from your wings, oh mother hen?

    Editor's note

    Lawrence adopts a more ironic and questioning tone. The sun is portrayed as a curious, eager inquirer — a 'lovely haste for wisdom' that gently mocks male desire. Men seek to uncover what lies hidden beneath the blossom and the hen's wings. While the questions seem innocent at first glance, they carry a predatory undertone.

  7. Yea, but it is cruel when undressed is all the blossom, / And her shift is lying white upon the floor,

    Editor's note

    This stanza of the poem is the most direct. The blossom is undressed, vividly representing a woman's seduction, while the grey rat-figure sneaks in to claim what he desires. Words like 'garner' and 'store' suggest that the seduction is more about theft and hoarding than genuine connection. The woman loses her innocence to something cold and opportunistic, rather than through love.

  8. Oh the grey garner that is full of half-grown apples, / Oh the golden sparkles laid extinct!

    Editor's note

    The poem ends by bringing together all its images: the unripe apples tucked away, the dead chicks, and finally the sun — portrayed as wicked, winking from behind the clouds. The sun has seen it all and remained indifferent, or worse, has been part of the problem. That wink is heartbreaking: it implies that both nature and society are in on the joke, leaving the woman to bear the pain alone.

§04Tone & mood

How this poem feels

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.

§05Symbols & metaphors

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.

§06Historical context

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*.

§07FAQ

Questions readers ask

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.

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Themes in this poem

Poems about betrayalPoems about identityPoems about naturePoems about sorrow