D. H. Lawrence’s speaker describes a sudden, involuntary rush of desire that starts in the eyes and surges down through the body. The chest flushes, the belly tightens, and the arms knot themselves with a strength they do not normally have, as if reaching for a lover who is not there. The speaker trembles under this strange, overwhelming power until the wave exhausts itself. Then the energy ebbs back to the eyes, leaving behind a tired, lonely body that has been stirred but not satisfied. The mood is urgent, physical, and deeply restless. There is excitement in the body’s awakening, but also frustration and sadness, because the longing flares up powerfully and then subsides without ever being fulfilled. It captures the ache of wanting something intensely while remaining untouched.
Virgin Youth — Summary
Now and again All my body springs alive, And the life that is polarised in my eyes, That quivers between my eyes and mouth, Flies like a wild thing across my body, Leaving my eyes half-empty, and clamorous, Filling my still breasts with a flush and a flame, Gathering the soft ripples below my breasts Into urgent, passionate waves, And my soft, slumbering belly Quivering awake with one impulse of desire, Gathers itself fiercely together; And my docile, fluent arms Knotting themselves with wild strength To clasp what they have never clasped. Then I tremble, and go trembling Under the wild, strange tyranny of my body, Till it has spent itself, And the relentless nodality of my eyes reasserts itself, Till the bursten flood of life ebbs back to my eyes, Back from my beautiful, lonely body Tired and unsatisfied.