Emotive Function of Language in Lawrence’s “Spring Funeral”

July 23, 2017

“The Spring Funeral” is an excerpt taken from” The White Peacock”, the
first novel of D.H Lawrence.
The novel was written in 1906 but finally published in 1911 after three
revisions.
It is narrated in the first person by a character named Cyril Beardsall.
The spring funeral takes place in the chapter 2 “The shadow in spring”.
This particular section, is a pastoral elegy, that raises the issues
propounded in Emotive Theory by I.A. Richards,
such as valorization of nature, synasthesia, human sensibility and
organicity.
In the description of spring funeral, the writer like a painter, depicts the early
spring season with the vibration of the non-human world, the birds like larks,
thrush, lapwings and the black-legged lamb.

All the animals seem to be intoxicated by the magnificent morning and feel the
thrill.
The natural scenes of hazels, sallow trees and pale wind-flowers portray the
gloom.
In Emotive theory by I.A. Richards, he gives emphasis on the nature and its
effects in the life of people.
I.A. Richards believes that industrialization and modernity brings
dehumanization, but nature breeds emotions in human beings.
 When reading about the spring funeral, the reader is immersed in nature in a
way that is sometimes tragic, sometimes ecstatic.

This is one of the great charms of the excerpt from the book.

Moments of life, of supreme harmony in spring time gives rise to ecstasy, and at
the same time there’s a tragic side to it, as the funeral procession is going on.

The Annable the game keeper has just died, and the narrator is seeing the
spectrum of how nature is participating in the procession and how aloof
somethings are.
In the light of both happiness and sadness, we find ‘synasthesia’ and IA Richards
view that discordant feelings and emotions can be harmonized only in Art and
Literature.
For him, Art and Literature also is a therapeutic tool.
The lapwings, unlike other birds in the springtime, they lament and take part in the
wailing and crying of the people in procession.

They seem to be engaged at an emotional level to the surrounding.

All the other birds and the lamb retreat into silence and they are also aware of the
human feelings.

The narrator and the people carrying the white coffin also show the respect and
condolence towards the dead.

The nature’s participation in joyous or sad moments is known as pathetic fallacy.

In regards to I.A. Richards, the human sensibility, or an acute perception of or
responsiveness toward something, such as the emotions of another is the most
important aspect.
There’s an inter-relatedness, coherence, and connection between the natural
objects, the animals and the human beings in the spring funeral.

The picture gives us the clue that all these entities can’t be separated.
The eco-system or the “organicity” of nature and humans is inseparable.

Lawrence’s description of the springtime, and the events glorifies the bio-centric
view against the existing notion of anthropocentrism.

I.A. Richards says that the Art and Literature has the organization of fullness of
life and it creates the impulses in the readers.
Thus, the spring funeral, is a remarkable handling of the language by
Lawrence,
who shows us the picture of life and death, and the way it keeps going on in a
cycle.
The spring funeral is a great excerpt to see through the emotive theory given
by I.A. Richards.

It connects with the idea of the theorist showing that the emotional
consciousness, and emotional response is created in the minds of the reader by
a work of Art and Literature.