Money Madness by D. H. Lawrence

“Money Madness” appears in D. H. Lawrence’s posthumous poetry collection The Ship of Death and Other Poems. This poem is about the greed of humankind for money, wealth, and possessions. Lawrence chiefly centers his thoughts on people’s overt materialism. In this modern world, money has become a parameter to judge one’s worth. It does not matter whether there are any columns of essential elements of goodness or not. People do check how much one has. If he has a meager amount with him, they even make him grovel and eat dirt. 

• Read the full text of “Money Madness” below:

Money Madness
by D. H. Lawrence

Money is our madness, our vast collective madness.

And of course, if the multitude is mad
the individual carries his own grain of insanity around with him.

I doubt if any man living hands out a pound note with-out a pang;
and a real tremor, if he hands out a ten-pound note.

We quail, money makes us quail.
It has got us down, we grovel before it in strange terror.
And no wonder, for money has a fearful cruel power among men.

But it is not money we are so terrified of,
it is the collective money-madness of mankind.
For mankind says with one voice: How much is he worth?
Has he no money? Then let him eat dirt, and go cold.–

And if I have no money, they will give me a little bread
so I do not die,
but they will make me eat dirt with it.
I shall have to eat dirt, I shall have to eat dirt
if I have no money.

It is that that I am frightened of.
And that fear can become a delirium.
It is fear of my money-mad fellow-men.

We must have some money
to save us from eating dirt.

And this is all wrong.

Bread should be free,
shelter should be free,
fire should be free
to all and anybody, all and anybody, all over the world.

We must regain our sanity about money
before we start killing one another about it.
It’s one thing or the other.

- from The Ship of Death and Other Poems (1932)

Summary

“Money Madness” is all about people’s insanity over money in this materialistic world. Their thoughts are only filled with the crisp notes and jingles of coins. According to the poet, the multitude is mad and an individual has their fair share of insanity with him. People hesitate while sharing a little. The poet describes how money makes them slaves and afraid of losing their possessions. He is of the view that “money-madness” is more frightening than the cause. They don’t care to enslave the penniless fellows. The poor ones are even made to eat dirt. At last, the poet in a vexed tone says that the essential things for survival should be free. Otherwise, this madness must lead humankind to ruthlessly kill each other.

Meaning

The title of the poem “Money Madness” gives readers an explicit hint at the central idea. It is about the insane behavior of men concerning money. According to the poet, money is not a problem in itself. But, the wildness originating from a greedy heart, is the source of all the problems occurring across the world. Besides, through this poem, Lawrence also taps on the lack of compassion and sympathy in modern beings. They judge others’ worth by their material possessions. Lawrence is out of the money-mad critic’s eyes. If he has nothing to spend, people even make him eat dirt and go cold in life’s winter. Sometimes, they provide a meager amount of help associated with an air of supremacy. In this way, Lawrence describes the concept of “money-madness”.

Structure & Form

This poem consists of thirty lines separated into a number of stanzas. Some stanzas contain only one line. In other stanzas, the line count ranges from two to five. There is not a specific rhyme scheme or meter in the poem. So, it is in the free-verse. Besides, the poet speaks in this piece from the first-person point of view. So, it is also an example of a lyric poem. However, the musicality of conventional lyrics is not present in this piece. The lines are prosaic in structure. To create internal rhyming, Lawrence makes use of repetition of words or similar sounds within a line. Apart from that, he concludes the sense of each section by using end-stopped lines.

Poetic Devices

Lawrence uses the following poetic devices in “Money Madness”.

• Enjambment: It occurs throughout the poem. For example, the second and third lines are enjambed.
• Repetition: In this poem, Lawrence uses the repetition of “money” and “madness” a number of times. He also uses this device to create an artistic effect. For example, the repetition of “that” in “It is that that I am frightened of” depicts the fearful mental state of the speaker.
• Irony: The poet uses this device in the very first line “Money is our madness, our vast collective madness”. It also occurs in the following lines.
• Sarcasm: It occurs in the second and third lines. Here, the poet humorously describes people’s attachment to money.
• Personification: In the line “for money has a fearful cruel power among men”, Lawrence personifies the inanimate object, “money”.
• Metaphor: In “Then let him eat dirt, and go cold”, “dirt” is used as a metaphor of denigration and belittling someone.
• Alliteration: It occurs in “multitude is mad”, “money-madness”, “my money-mad fellow-men”, etc.

Themes

Lawrence’s poem “Money Madness” explores the theme of money and other themes associated with this concept. These include materialism, fear and apprehension, cruelty, and lack of compassion. The main theme of this poem centers on the lust for money. Lawrence describes what human beings are up to for it. It has turned into a precious thing for a living. Hence, people have become ruthless in protecting their wealth. The poet thinks that the money-madness of humankind is the root cause of all the evils. Besides, he also showcases the cruel treatment towards the poor fellows and the fear of having no money in this poem.

Line-by-Line Critical Analysis & Explanation

Lines 1-5

Money is our madness, our vast collective madness.

And of course, if the multitude is mad

the individual carries his own grain of insanity around with him.

I doubt if any man living hands out a pound note with-out a pang;

and a real tremor, if he hands out a ten-pound note.

The poem “Money Madness” begins with an ironic statement. Lawrence describes money as a vast and collective ailment of mankind. It is not limited to an individual. Rather, it has become gout in the legs of humanity. In the following lines, the speaker says that this madness differs from person to person. Each person has his unique share of madness. Though the root cause of this problem is money, its manifestation is different.

The speaker doubts if any man living in this materialistic world holds out a pound without a pang in his heart. By using the expression “pound note with-out a pang”, the poet invests this line with sarcasm. Besides, readers can find an internal rhyming of the “p” sound here. In the next line, the poet humorously says that if a person holds out a ten-pound note, it is a moment of “real tremor” for him. Through these lines, Lawrence describes one facade of this money-madness. It deals with the selfishness of humankind.

Lines 6-12

We quail, money makes us quail.

It has got us down, we grovel before it in strange terror.

And no wonder, for money has a fearful cruel power among men.

But it is not money we are so terrified of,

it is the collective money-madness of mankind.

For mankind says with one voice: How much is he worth?

Has he no money? Then let him eat dirt, and go cold.–

In the following lines, Lawrence reveals another symptom of insanity. It deals with the idea of enslavement. According to the poet, money makes us all fearful. It enslaves our minds that are filled with greed. Like slaves were drawn to the ground and tortured, the rich do the same with the poor fellows.

The poet personifies money as a slaver or master. It enslaves people and gets them down on their knees. Then, it makes them grovel before it, in a “strange tremor”. Through this image, the poet conveys the helpless submission of men to money.

Besides, he invests money with a “fearful cruel power”. Money in itself is worthless. It is people’s perception that makes some notes look precious. When a person gets involved with a thing so deeply, it naturally makes them fearful of losing it. Through these lines, Lawrence is referring to this apprehension.

Furthermore, the poet says that money is not the cause of his apprehension. Rather it is madness associated with it that the poet is afraid of. Why does he fear this insanity so much? It is because of the behavior of the money-mad men. They judge others by their monetary worth. If one has nothing, they do not hesitate to leave them in suffering. The cruel treatment towards them is compared to eating dirt or going cold in life’s winter.

Lines 13-20

And if I have no money, they will give me a little bread

so I do not die,

but they will make me eat dirt with it.

I shall have to eat dirt, I shall have to eat dirt

if I have no money.

It is that that I am frightened of.

And that fear can become a delirium.

It is fear of my money-mad fellow-men.

There is no difference in the speaker’s case. If he is penniless, people won’t think twice before condemning him. He thinks he will be given a little bread as he does not die. If he dies soon, how can they take sadistic pleasure from his suffering? Hence, the poet says they show their apparent humane selves in order to make him enslaved to their power of money.

Then, they will make him eat dirt along with the bread. The help they provide to the speaker is a form of business. They try to purchase one’s self-worth with a bit of financial assistance. However, from the poet’s tone, it is clear that he is afraid of such a senseless bargain. He does not want to sell himself to anyone if he has no money. It is the fear of submitting oneself to the rich that makes the poet apprehensive. By the repetition of “I shall have to eat dirt” the poet reflects his tensed mental state.

In the following line, Lawrence reiterates this idea and says that he is fearful of it. According to him, this fear can become a delirium. So, the fear of the “money-mad fellow men” can cause a long-lasting mental disorder in others.

Lines 21-30

We must have some money

to save us from eating dirt.

And this is all wrong.

Bread should be free,

shelter should be free,

fire should be free

to all and anybody, all and anybody, all over the world.

We must regain our sanity about money

before we start killing one another about it.

It’s one thing or the other.

In the first lines of this section, Lawrence ironically talks about the role of money in his life. It is nothing but a type of protection against condemnation. In the long run, it would save people from eating dirt. What human beings are up to is wrong. The poet did not expect this.

He is of the view that all the basic needs for survival should be free to everybody. These include food, shelter, and fire. Lawrence uses the repetition of the phrase “all and anybody” for the sake of emphasis.

The last three lines of the poem contain another important idea. Here, the poet speaks about the ruthlessness of humankind. According to him, people must regain their senses before they start killing each other for money. It is not limited to this only. There are several tragic consequences of “money-madness”.

Historical Context

The poem “Money Madness” was first published in D. H. Lawrence’s poetry collection The Ship of Death and Other Poems. It was posthumously published in 1932. This poem was written in the 1920s, a few years before Lawrence’s death. In that phase, he mainly wrote poems revealing the cruelty, inhumanity, and brutality of humankind. His pessimism concerning the modern world is reflected in his post-World War verses. In “Money Madness”, he chiefly describes the mindset of materialistic humans. He reveals how they adore money. They can go far below their standards for it. Besides, he also reveals the implications of this insanity for money.

Questions & Answers

Similar Poems about Materialism

• “The Toys” by Coventry Patmore — This poem hints at worldly toys such as money in order to describe our childish attachment with them.
• “The Vagabond” by Robert Louis Stevenson — In this poem, the speaker wishes to be free from the clutches of the materialistic world.
• “To a Poor Old Woman” by William Carlos Wiliams — This piece describes how a poor woman finds pleasure in the ripe plums.
• “Dawn at Puri” by Jayanta Mahapatra — In this poem, Mahapatra taps on the themes of human suffering and hunger.

External Resources

• Lecture on “Money Madness” — Listen to this informative lecture on Lawrence’s poem.
• About D. H. Lawrence — Learn about the poet’s life and explore his best-known poems.
• A New Life of D. H. Lawrence — Read more about the poet’s life and an overview of his works.
• Poet Profile & Poems of D. H. Lawrence — Explore the poet’s profile and read more of his poems.