SOURCE: Ebbatson, Roger. “‘England, My England’: Lawrence, War and Nation.” Literature & History 9, no. 1 (spring 2000): 67-82.

In the following essay, Ebbatson asserts that “England, My England” provides insights into English cultural identities at the time of World War I and examines Lawrence's revision of the story.

The constituent elements of D. H. Lawrence's short story “England, My England” may be related both to Edwardian preoccupations with Englishness and to the conditions of the text's production, revision and reproduction. The interpretation which follows seeks to focus upon a number of interrelated issues thrown up by a theorised reading: first, contested definitions of Englishness current at the time of the text's initial production; secondly, the specific context of the tale in the cultural situation, particularly relating to the folk music revival; thirdly, the history of textual rewriting and revision as evidence of Lawrence's predicament as a cultural producer; and finally, the...