The Smell of Chrysanthemums as a ClassicThe claim that "The Smell of Chrysanthemums" is a well-crafted story is certainly not bold or risky, as many would agree agreement. For example, the man who in a sense discovered Lawrence, FM Ford, editor of the English Review, said of "The Smell of Chrysanthemums": The title itself has an impact on the mind. You quickly realize that this is not, whatever the outcome, a frivolous or even gay spring story. Chrysanthemums aren't just autumn flowers: they are autumn itself. . . This man knows what he wants. He sees exactly the scene of his story. He has an authoritative mind. (Ford 257) As a fiction editor, he is quite receptive to Lawrence's descriptive skills. He is impressed with Lawrence's purpose. But readers need not evaluate the story by Ford's methods alone. Modern readers have a very different perspective than Lawrence's contemporaries, which makes many different analyzes of "The Smell of Chrysanthemums" possible. However, the plot itself is very simple. In the 1914 version, Elizabeth Bates spends much of the story waiting for her husband to return from the mine, worried that he is once again lounging in his favorite pub. His colleagues drag him home, but he is not in a drunken stupor. He died, suffocated in a mining accident. Initially it seems that the moment when Elizabeth discovers that her husband is dead is the climax of the story. However, this isn't the most compelling moment in the story, as Lawrence's foreshadowing has already revealed this ending. Elizabeth often unconsciously hints at impending death, saying, “They will bear him when he comes, like a log” (Lawrence 290). The real surprise comes after the reader discovers... the middle of the paper... just the meaning. This idea reflects people's deepest fears, or perhaps evokes new ones. "The Smell of Chrysanthemums" failed and is shocking due to the particularly beautiful writing, the realistic characters or even the surprise ending. It's shocking because of a surprise thought. Works Cited Lawrence, David Herbert. "Smells like chrysanthemums." DH Lawrence: The Complete Short Stories (Vol. 2). New York: Penguin Books, 1976. Bolton, James T. “Smell of Chrysanthemums: An Early Version.” Renaissance and Modern Studies 13 (1969), 12-44.Ford, Madox Ford. "DH Lawrence." Portraits from life. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1937. Lawrence, David Herbert. “Women are so confident.” Phoenix. London: Heinemann, 1936. 167-69.Lawrence, David Herbert. “To TDD” July 7, 1914. Selected Letters. Ed. Riccardo Aldington. New York: Penguin Books, 1996.