David Herbert Lawrence was born in Nottinghamshire in 1885. Predominantly remembered as a novelist, Lawrence began writing poetry when he was nineteen and published his first pieces in 1909 in the English Review. His first book of verse, Love Poems and Others, appeared in 1913. This was followed by Amores (1916), Look! We Have Come Through (1917), New Poems (1918), Bay (1919), Tortoises (1921), Birds, Beasts and Flowers (1923) and Pansies (1929). His Collected Poems appeared in 1928 and Last Poems was published posthumously in 1932. D.H. Lawrence died of tuberculosis in Vence in 1930.

In this series, a contemporary poet selects and introduces a poet of the past. By their choice of poems and by the personal and critical reactions they express in their prefaces, the editors offer insights into their own work as well as providing an accessible and passionate introduction to some of the greatest poets of our literature.