Summary
Summary of The White Peacock
Key ideas
Key idea 1
Country days conceal lasting choices
Cyril Beardsall lives with his mother and sister Lettie near Nethermere, spending much of his youth among the Saxton family on a neighbouring farm. His friendship with George and Emily belongs to a world of walks, swimming, music and work in the fields. Then a wealthy newcomer begins to change their circle.
In The White Peacock, these ordinary pleasures carry more weight than they first seem to. Beneath the summer days, love, money and class are quietly shaping the lives the young people might lead.
Key idea 2
Lettie wants warmth and position
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Key idea 3
Leslie offers a secure future
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Key idea 4
Annable distrusts polished social manners
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Key idea 5
Farm life carries its own pressures
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Key idea 6
Cyril sees more than he changes
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Key idea 7
Love cannot escape social position
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Key idea 8
Nature expresses what people cannot say
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Key idea 9
Feeling and habit pull lives apart
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The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
Read the rest freeWho it’s for
For readers who love richly described country life, stories of love shaped by money and class, and nature that mirrors feeling. A chance to discover where Lawrence began before Sons and Lovers and Women in Love.
What this book is
The White Peacock is the first novel of D. H. Lawrence, published in 1911 when he was in his mid twenties. He began it while a young teacher and a student from a Nottinghamshire mining family, and he drew its landscape from the farms and woods near his home. The book gives you a young man's love of the English countryside, and a sharp look at how love, money and class decide who ends up with whom.
The story is told by Cyril Beardsall, a gentle and watchful young man. He lives with his mother and his sister Lettie near a lake called Nethermere, and he spends his youth on a neighbouring farm among the Saxton family. There he befriends George Saxton, a strong and easygoing farmer, and George's sister Emily. Soon a rich newcomer arrives, and the circle of friends begins to change.
This is a book where very little seems to happen on the surface. People walk, swim, make hay, play the piano and talk. Yet beneath these summer days, choices are made that shape whole lives. Let us begin with the place and the people, because in this novel the setting is almost a character in itself.
In this summary
- 1Nethermere and the farm by the waterFree
- 2Lettie stands between two kinds of life
- 3A rich newcomer brings another world
- 4Annable the gamekeeper speaks his mind
- 5George, Emily and the pull of ordinary lives
- 6Cyril watches while others live
- 7Love is shaped by class and money
- 8Nature, the body and the fear of modern life
- 9A first novel in a lyrical, uneven voice
Key point 1 of 9
Nethermere and the farm by the water
The novel opens in the country around Nethermere, a lake in a green valley of Nottinghamshire. Cyril Beardsall tells the story looking back, and his eye lingers on water, trees and the changing light. The Beardsall family live here, and money is not plentiful. Cyril's mother keeps up appearances, and she wants her children to rise in the world.
Nearby stands a farm where the Saxton family live and work. Cyril soon becomes a daily visitor. He meets Emily, a thoughtful girl who loves books and the quiet pleasures of the house, and her brother George, who is warm, physical and easy in his body. Their father is a rough man who likes his drink, and the household is not rich either.
The farm teaches Cyril a different way of living. Work there is done with hands and muscle, and the seasons set the pace. Cyril, who prefers music and reading, watches George mow, carry loads and swim in the pond, and he feels both admiration and a mild envy. The early chapters are full of hay fields, orchards and the smell of animals.
The friendship between Cyril and George is one of the book's warmest threads. They bathe together, talk idly and lie in the grass. Lawrence writes their closeness frankly and with affection, and it shows how much feeling can pass between two men who say little.
This opening world looks like a happy country idyll. But Lawrence plants small signs that it cannot last. Cyril himself seems to know, as he tells the story, that these bright days belong to the past, and a faint sadness hangs over every scene.
That’s 1 of 9 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Check yourself
Why does Leslie's arrival complicate Lettie's attraction to George?
Right. “He is polite, steady and fond of Lettie, and he offers her comfort, a house and a secure future.”Not quite. “He is polite, steady and fond of Lettie, and he offers her comfort, a house and a secure future.”
How does Cyril usually respond to the lives unfolding around him?
Right. “He listens, comments and records, and he often seems more interested in the beauty of a moment than in changing it.”Not quite. “He listens, comments and records, and he often seems more interested in the beauty of a moment than in changing it.”
What role does nature play in the novel?
Right. “Flowers, animals, weather and water mirror the moods of the characters and show what the characters cannot say.”Not quite. “Flowers, animals, weather and water mirror the moods of the characters and show what the characters cannot say.”
Questions about The White Peacock
What is The White Peacock about?
It follows a young narrator, Cyril Beardsall, and his friends near a lake in the English Midlands. Love, class and money shape their choices, while the countryside and its farming life slowly change around them.
Is The White Peacock based on a true story?
It is fiction, but Lawrence drew the setting and many of the people from his youth in Nottinghamshire, including farms he visited and the friends who encouraged his writing. It was published in 1911.
What does the white peacock symbolize?
The bird is linked with ornament and vanity, a beauty that is showy rather than useful. Readers connect it with fine appearances and with the cost of putting show above honest feeling.
Is The White Peacock hard to read?
The language is not difficult. Readers who like atmosphere will enjoy it.
Is The White Peacock worth reading before Sons and Lovers?
Many readers enjoy it as a first look at Lawrence's themes of class, nature and the body. It shows how his ideas and voice began.
