D.H. Lawrence

(1885 - 1930)

Toward the end of this preface to his fourth poetry collection, D.H. Lawrence wrote, “One great mystery of time is terra incognita to us: the instant…The quick of all time is the instant. The quick of all the universe, of all creation, is the incarnate, carnal self. Poetry gave us the clue: free verse: Whitman. Now we know.” He traveled widely in the 1920s and often wrote quickly, composing The Lost Girl in Sicily, Kangaroo in Australia, The Plumed Serpent in Mexico, and the first draft of Lady Chatterley’s Lover in Italy.