Lawrence imagines a city as a trapped, wounded animal while an immense flood rises around it. The town’s noise becomes a roar of pain, and the days themselves seem to rush in like waves against its lair. The speaker senses an “invisible woe” opening some vast water beyond all limits, as if the sea or a primal force is reaching toward the old city with a “foamy paw.” By the end, the city cannot fight or flee; it can only wait and listen as the waves shatter the streets and leave hollow echoes behind. The poem feels anxious and claustrophobic, full of the helplessness of watching something huge and unstoppable approach. The mood is dark, ominous, and almost mythic—less a literal flood than a sense of doom pressing in.
Apprehension — Summary
And all hours long, the town Roars like a beast in a cave That is wounded there And like to drown; While days rush, wave after wave On its lair.
An invisible woe unseals The flood, so it passes beyond All bounds: the great old city Recumbent roars as it feels The foamy paw of the pond Reach from immensity.
But all that it can do Now, as the tide rises, Is to listen and hear the grim Waves crash like thunder through The splintered streets, hear noises Roll hollow in the interim.