Abstract
D. H. Lawrence's purpose in life was two-fold: as both artist and prophet, he sought to express in terns of his own soul the realities of life, and to change them as well. Thus, he was aware that his and "every work of art adheres to a system of morality," and that his art might also be a vehicle for a new morality and an implement for change. Yet, he realized that "the adherence to a metaphysic does not necessarily give artistic form. Indeed the over-strong adherence to a metaphysic usually destroys any possibility of artistic form." Lawrence was thus aware of the conflict, not only in his own work but in art in general, between what he called an artist's "metaphysic" and the art which proceeds from it.