MYSTERY by D. H. Lawrence: Summary, Meaning & Analysis
A speaker fully surrenders to a divine or cherished figure, using the metaphor of a ritual bowl filled with kisses to illustrate this complete devotion.
The poem
Now I am all One bowl of kisses, Such as the tall Slim votaresses Of Egypt filled For a God's excesses. I lift to you My bowl of kisses, And through the temple's Blue recesses Cry out to you In wild caresses. And to my lips' Bright crimson rim The passion slips, And down my slim White body drips The shining hymn. And still before The altar I Exult the bowl Brimful, and cry To you to stoop And drink, Most High. Oh drink me up That I may be Within your cup Like a mystery, Like wine that is still In ecstasy. Glimmering still In ecstasy, Commingled wines Of you and me In one fulfil The mystery.
A speaker fully surrenders to a divine or cherished figure, using the metaphor of a ritual bowl filled with kisses to illustrate this complete devotion. The poem intertwines religious worship with erotic longing, portraying the beloved as a deity at an altar. By the end, both figures merge into one, like two wines poured into a single cup.
Line-by-line
Now I am all / One bowl of kisses,
I lift to you / My bowl of kisses,
And to my lips' / Bright crimson rim
And still before / The altar I
Oh drink me up / That I may be
Glimmering still / In ecstasy,
Tone & mood
The tone is passionate and reverent, at the intersection of erotic desire and spiritual ecstasy. Lawrence maintains the intensity — the language is rich, yet the short, clipped lines lend it a ceremonial quality, reminiscent of a chant. The speaker's voice carries no shame or doubt, just a bright eagerness to be embraced.
Symbols & metaphors
- The bowl — The central image of the poem symbolizes the speaker's entire being presented as a vessel of desire and devotion. It also reflects the chalice used in religious communion, linking physical intimacy to sacred ritual.
- Wine / kisses — The two are seen as essentially the same. Wine has significant Eucharistic importance—the notion that something as simple as a drink or a kiss can transform into a means for a transcendent, even divine, experience.
- The altar / temple — Lawrence situates the erotic encounter within a sacred space, drawing inspiration from ancient Egyptian temple worship. This isn’t ironic; he truly views physical union as a religious act, a theme that appears consistently throughout his work.
- The votaresses of Egypt — Female temple servants performed ritual offerings to the gods. By invoking them, Lawrence connects the speaker's desire to an ancient, pre-Christian tradition where the body and the sacred coexisted harmoniously.
- Commingled wines — The image of two wines mixing in one cup represents the full merging of two identities. It captures the poem's main desire: not just connection, but the complete erasure of the line between self and other.
Historical context
D. H. Lawrence wrote this poem in the early 1900s, during a time when he was shaping his argument that modern Western life had dangerously separated the body from the spirit. He turned to pre-Christian cultures—like ancient Egypt, Etruscan civilization, and indigenous Mexico—as proof that this division wasn’t unavoidable. "Mystery" reflects that fascination by featuring an erotic scene set in an Egyptian temple. Lawrence challenged Victorian norms, asserting that physical desire shouldn’t be hidden or apologized for. The poem was included in his early collections, predating the controversies surrounding *The Rainbow* (1915) and *Lady Chatterley's Lover* (1928), yet his fundamental belief is already clear: that sex, worship, and self-transcendence are interconnected rather than separate.
FAQ
On the surface, it depicts a speaker presenting themselves to a beloved through the metaphor of a ritual bowl filled with kisses. However, Lawrence is aiming for something deeper: he suggests that erotic love and religious devotion stem from the same impulse. The speaker is not merely *comparing* desire to worship — they are treating them as one and the same.
Lawrence intentionally keeps this ambiguous. The title "Most High" gives the figure a divine quality, and the temple backdrop adds to that impression. However, the poem can also be interpreted as one person talking to another they deeply care for, with an almost spiritual fervor. It's likely that Lawrence intended for both interpretations to coexist simultaneously.
Egyptian religion, according to Lawrence, connected the body and the sacred in a way that Christianity did not. The "votaresses," or female temple servants, offered physical gifts to the gods as a true expression of worship. By mentioning them, Lawrence suggests that this type of desire is not only ancient and honorable but also sacred rather than shameful.
Lawrence employs the term in its traditional religious context: a sacred rite or truth that defies complete rational explanation and can only be truly understood through experience. The "mystery" resolved at the conclusion represents the union of two distinct beings into one — a phenomenon present in both spiritual communion and physical intimacy.
Lawrence's main argument is that the question itself is flawed. He thought the division between the sacred and the physical is a contemporary error. The poem embodies both aspects simultaneously, and the unease some readers experience is precisely what Lawrence aimed to evoke.
The tight two- and three-stress lines lend the poem a chant-like, incantatory feel—it feels more like a ritual being performed than merely a feeling being expressed. This brevity also adds a breathless quality that matches the intensity of the speaker's longing.
It means that the two individuals (or the person and the divine) have merged entirely, similar to how two wines poured into the same cup become one. This is the culmination the entire poem has been leading to: not merely intimacy, but the complete erasure of the line between self and other.
The same themes appear throughout his novels. In *The Rainbow* and *Women in Love*, characters pursue a transcendent physical connection. Lawrence often claimed that modern individuals were deprived of this — disconnected from their own bodies due to industrialization and strict religious beliefs. "Mystery" presents a concise, lyrical take on that argument.