In 1915, Lawrence's frank representation of sexuality inThe Rainbow caused a furore and the novel was seized by thepolice and banned almost as soon as it was published. Todayit is recognised as one of the classic English novels of thetwentieth century.

The Rainbow is about three generations of the Brangwen familyof Nottinghamshire from the 1840s to the early years of thetwentieth century. Within this historical framework Lawrence'sessential concern is with the passional lives of his charactersand he explores the pressures that determine their lives, usinga religious symbolism in which the 'rainbow' of the title ishis unifying motif. His primary focus is on the individual'sstruggle to growth and fulfilment within marriage and changingsocial circumstances, a process shown to grow more difficultthrough the generations. Young Ursula Brangwen, whose storyis continued in Women in Love, is ,finally the central figure inLawrence's anatomy of the confining structures of Englishsocial life and the impact of industrialisation and urbanisationon the human psyche.

INTRODUCTION

ONE How Tom Brangwen Married a Polish Lady

TWO They Live at the Marsh

THREE Childhood of Anna Lensky

FOVR Girlhood of Anna Brangwen

FIVE Wedding at the Marsh

SIX Anna Victrix

SEVEN The Cathedral

EIGHT The Child

NINE The Marsh and the Flood

TEN The Widening Circle

ELEVEN First Love

TWELVE Shame

THRTEEN The Man's World

FOURTEEN The Widening Circle

FIFTEEN The Bitterness of Ecrtasy

SIXTEEN The Rainbow

NOTES