With an Introduction & Notes by Lionel Kelly University of Reading In 1915 Lawrence's frank representation of sexuality in The Rainbow caused a furore & the novel was seized by the police & banned almost as soon as it was published Today it is recognised as one of the classic English novels of the twentieth century The Rainbow is about three generations of the Brangwen family of Nottinghamshire from the 1840s to the early years of the twentieth century Within this framework Lawrence's essential concern is with the passional lives of his characters as he explores the pressures that determine their lives using a religious symbolism in which the 'rainbow' of the title is his unifying motif His primary focus is on the individual's struggle to growth & fulfilment within marriage & changing social circumstances a process shown to grow more difficult through the generations Young Ursula Brangwen whose story is continued in Women in Love is finally the central figure in Lawrence's anatomy of the confining structures of English social life & the impact of industrialisation & urbanisation on the human psyche