Lawrence called one morning on an Eastwood lady with whom he was on friendly terms. Lawrence was in a restless mood... "There's a poem I want to write." "Well," says the lady, "there's pen and ink and paper in the next room. Go and write your poem, and then, perhaps, you'll be a bit more sociable." Lawrence went on walking as he said "That's just the trouble. I can never work until after I've had sexual intercourse." "Too bad," says the lady, disappearing from the room. Ten minutes later she reappeared in a dressing gown, saying "All right, Bert. You can use me."
John Worthen, D.H. Lawrence: the early years, 1885-1912, Cambridge University Press 1992. Google Books.
A generous offer! Do we know which poem was produced? Have you ever visited his house in Eastwood?
ReplyDeleteSo that's why I haven't been able to write lately...
ReplyDeleteThe woman is supposedly Alice Dax and Willie Hopkin had a more cheerful version of the story in which Alice Dax told Willie's wife "Sallie, I gave Bert sex. I had to. He was over at our house, struggling with a poem he couldn't finish, so I took him upstairs and gave him sex. He came downstairs and finished the poem,"
ReplyDeleteI don't know which poem was produced.
But Alice is the inspiration behind Clara Dawes in Sons and Lovers.
Bill: A valid reason!