lawrence of arabia

"all men dream: but not equally.
those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds, wake in the day to find that it was a vanity:
but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men,
for they may act their dreams out with open eyes, to make it possible....this I did."
t.e. lawrence

at the funeral of t.e. lawrence, no less a figure than winston churchill wept and called him “one of the greatest beings of our time. whatever our need we shall never see his like again’.

i can’t remember the first time i learned about lawrence of arabia. i have a feeling it was a ladybird book that i read when i was quite young. the ladybird books are still around but there are whole series of them that are simply gone. vanished. i came across this excellent blog all about ladybird books.

the ladybird books were very old school in the way that they taught language, but the effect of them to compel me to learn about people, places, historical events and places i likely will never see was profound when i think back to them. one of my favourite series dealt with famous british people through history.

lawrence almost certainly was in one although i am unable to find proof of that memory. I have a recollection of an image of him. the usual one staring into the distance dressed in arab gear.

the next time i came across him was in a huge movie theatre in toronto when i got to see the movie of lawrence of arabia. it was a memorable experience, in part because the theatre was by far and away the most massive theatre i had been into that point and then also because the movie itself was breathtaking cinematically. for the first time i had a really strong sense (or so i thought) of the man lawrence was behind the image. the movie is long but moves quickly through the clever juxtaposition of battle scenes, behind-the-scenes views of the politics of the time and then also the politics of uniting the arabian tribes to uprise against the turks.

the movie is still one of my all-time favourites.

when i reached my mid twenties and was a factory worker in toronto, i found i had lots of time to read on the bus and subway train i took to get to work. one of the many great books i read in that time was lawrence’s ”seven pillars of wisdom” - an absolutely mind boggling work of literary art.
i have read the book three times in total. it’s a lengthy book (over seven hundred pages) but to read it is not only to follow the life of the man but the life of the times in which it was written. complexities and nuances typically tucked away as of no consequence become front and centre as lawrence strips away the niceties and reveals the social and political machinations of the period between the turn of the century through to the end of the first world war. lawrence offered a romantic and exotic view of the war in arabia, which was far removed from the horror of the european theatre.

the dedicatory poem at the beginning of the book contains these words:
“i loved you, so I drew these tides of men into my hands
and wrote my will across the sky in stars
to gain you freedom, the seven-pillared worthy house,
that your eyes might be shining for me
when I came.”

that aside, in reading the book, it becomes clear that lawrence was very aware that his promises of freedom to the arabs were hollow; that a large part of his job was to get them to fight the turks at all costs. certainly it can be assumed that he was also aware of the partitioning plans that the great powers had for that portion of the world after the war was over. the book can be read for free at the australian site of the gutenberg project.

during his time in arabia, lawrence was based primarily at wadi rum. a massive rock formation was named by lawrence the “seven pillars of wisdom”. it is seen here . . . .


a considerable amount of research has gone into unpacking the life of lawrence. in part because of the tremendous impact he had (and still has) on middle eastern politics, but also because he stood at that interstice where great men often do with the romantic image of him leading a charge of bedouin against the turks, and the calculating politically astute man very much at the whim of those interested in reorganizing the middle east to their own best interests on the other.

thomas edward lawrence was born on august 16, 1888. his father, thomas chapman, was heir to an irish baronetcy, but he had left his wife and four daughters to live with their governess, sarah maden. he and sarah changed their name to lawrence and thomas edward was the second of their five sons. his “illegitimacy” was a source of lifelong embarrassment for lawrence.

in 1914, lawrence was recruited by military intelligence and, when turkey joined germany in the war against the allies, he was posted to cairo.

after the war, he withdrew from public life and became an ordinary aircraftman with the royal air force under the assumed name of shaw. you can read about this period of his life in his book ”the mint”.

in 1935, he left the raf and retired to his cottage in clouds hill in dorset. on may 13, 1935, only ten weeks after his retirement, lawrence was injured in a motorcycle accident and died six days later. the motorcycle he was riding is one of the most famous of all british-made motorbikes - the brough superior - referred to as “the rolls royce of motor cycles”. lawrence had seven of these bikes and was awaiting delivery of the eighth when he was killed. if you would like to learn more about this extraordinary machine, an amazing site has been created in its honour that you should visit even if you have little interest in motor bikes.

i’ll close with a quote from one of the many letters lawrence wrote, this one from the [selected letters page 319 to robin buxton dated 4 march. 1927] "i like so much the being left alone that I tend to leave other people alone, too".