Graves’s lecturing trips to America beginning in 1957 established his reputation as a celebrity-poet, and earned him much-needed money. About this time, with Judith Bledsoe long gone, Graves was feeling the need of a Muse.
In June 1960, he met Margot Callas, whom he recognized as a fresh incarnation of the White Goddess. Poems such as ‘Lyceia’, ‘Symptoms of Love’, and ‘The Visitation’ established this as fact.
In balancing the complex poetic and private aspects of his life, he had to deal with a very understanding wife (Beryl), Margot, and Alistair Reid, a friend who eventually fell in love with Margot and took her away from Deyá. ‘Lion Lover’ is about Margot.