D H Lawrence (1885-1930) was an English author, journalist, poet and playwright. Some of his influential works are Sons and Lovers, Lady Chatterley's Lover and Woman in Love. He was born in a small mining town of Eastwood, Nottinghamshire, England. His father was a coal miner and his mother from a middle class family that had fallen into financial ruin. His working-class upbringing and experience of growing up on a mining town left a strong impression on him and these influences are seen in most of his works.
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 without 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 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 for it.
I shall have to eat dirt, I shall have to eat dirt
if I have no money
It is that I am afraid of.
And that fear can become a delirium.
It is fear of my money-mad fellow-man,
We must have some money
To save us from eating dirt.
And this is 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.
List five good things and five bad things about money.
| positive | negative |
| 1. | 1. |
| 2. | 2. |
| 3. | 3. |
| 4. | 4. |
| 5. | 5. |
How, according to the speaker, one feels while handing out a one-pound note and a ten-pound note to someone?
What is the speaker most terrified of?
How are the people with no money treated?
As per the poem, what are the three things that should be free?
What is the significance of the words 'multitude is mad'? What happens when the multitude goes money-mad?