Odour of Chrysanthemums

Odour of Chrysanthemums is a short story written by D. H. Lawrence and first published in 1911.

The story follows Elizabeth Bates as she waits for her husband, Walter, to return from the coal mine. As the day passes into night, Elizabeth reflects on their marriage, which has become increasingly distant and conflicted.

When Walter is killed in a mining accident and his body is brought home, Elizabeth is forced to confront the distance that had grown between them.

The story explores human relationships, alienation, and working-class life in an English mining community. Through the recurring chrysanthemums, Lawrence connects Elizabeth’s memories of courtship, marriage, childbirth, and death.

"The small locomotive engine, Number 4, came clanking, stumbling down from Selston with seven full waggons. It appeared round the corner with loud threats of speed, but the colt that it startled from among the gorse, which still flickered indistinctly in the raw afternoon, outdistanced it at a canter."