Fuoruscire da piccole soglie
E volgersi verso la città, in rivoli che divengono ondate
Di uomini in bombetta che si affrettano
A fondersi a donne con borsetta
Che hanno fretta, fretta,
Su gambe che vanno veloci veloci
In una fretta ignobile, per paura di far tardi,
Io mi sento pieno di umiliazione.
È la loro fretta
Che è così
Umiliante.

 

Title and layout analysis:

The title catches the reader's attention because of the oxymoron "ignoble procession", so a bad adjective with a positive thing. I expect the poem to be a critique of something, maybe a group of people or also people in general. There is the determinative adjective "the" at the beginning of the title, so I can say that the writer, David Herbert Lawrence, refers to a specific thing (procession) that the writer and the reader both have in mind.

The poem is structured in three strophes: the first has four verses, the second has five verses and the last one has three verses. There is only one rhyme: procession-humiliation (v.1 - v.9). By the way, there are many repetitions in the 2nd strophe.