Seven Pillars of Wisdom - Title

Title

The title comes from the Book of Proverbs, 9:1: "Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars" (KJV). Prior to the First World War, Lawrence had begun work on a scholarly book about seven great cities of the Middle East, to be titled Seven Pillars of Wisdom. When war broke out, it was still incomplete and Lawrence stated that he ultimately destroyed the manuscript although he remained keen on using his original title 'Seven Pillars of Wisdom' for his later work. the book had to be rewritten three times once blind following the loss of the manuscript on a train at Reading.

'Seven Pillars of Wisdom' is a biographical account of his experiences during the Arab Revolt of 1917–18, when Lawrence was based in Wadi Rum (now a part of Jordan) as a member of the British Forces of North Africa. Together with the support of Emir Faisal and his tribesmen he prepared attacks on the Ottoman forces from Aqaba in the south to Damascus in the north (Syria). Many sites inside the Wadi Rum area have been named after Lawrence to attract tourists, although there is little or no evidence connecting him to any of these sites, these include the famous rock formations near the entrance known as 'The Seven Pillars'.

Speculation surrounds the dedication of the book which is a poem that was penned by Lawrence and edited by Robert Graves. the speculation ranges from it being about individuals to being about the whole Arab Race. It begins 'To S.A' which it is widely agreed was most probably Selim Ahmed (Dahoum) Selim Ahmed). A young Arab boy from Syria of whom Lawrence was very fond and who died an untimely death probably from typhus at the age of 19, just weeks before Lawrence's offensive to liberate Damascus. Laurence received the news just days before he entered Damascus and it was there that he was to fight his most aggressive and furious battle of all.

I loved you, so I drew these tides of
Men into my hands
And wrote my will across the
Sky and stars
To earn you freedom, the seven
Pillared worthy house,
That your eyes might be
Shining for me
When I came

Death seemed my servant on the
Road, 'til we were near
And saw you waiting:
When you smiled and in sorrowful
Envy he outran me
And took you apart:
Into his quietness

Love, the way-weary, groped to your body,
Our brief wage
Ours for the moment
Before Earth's soft hand explored your shape
And the blind
Worms grew fat upon
Your substance

Men prayed me that I set our work,
The inviolate house,
As a memory of you
But for fit monument I shattered it,
Unfinished: and now
The little things creep out to patch
Themselves hovels
In the marred shadow
Of your gift.

A variant last line of that first stanza—reading "When we came"—appears in some editions; however, the 1922 Oxford text (considered the definitive version; see below) has "When I came". The poem originated as prose, submitted by letter to Robert Graves, who edited the work heavily into its current form, rewriting an entire stanza and correcting the others.