Vivian de Sola Pinto was a British poet, literary critic and historian. He was a leading scholarly authority on D. H. Lawrence

D. H. Lawrence

David Herbert Richards Lawrence was an English novelist, poet, playwright, essayist, literary critic and painter who published as D. H. Lawrence. His collected works represent an extended reflection upon the dehumanising effects of modernity and industrialisation...

, and appeared for the defence (Penguin Books

Penguin Books

Penguin Books is a publisher founded in 1935 by Sir Allen Lane and V.K. Krishna Menon. Penguin revolutionised publishing in the 1930s through its high quality, inexpensive paperbacks, sold through Woolworths and other high street stores for sixpence. Penguin's success demonstrated that large...

) in the 1960 Lady Chatterley's Lover

Lady Chatterley's Lover

Lady Chatterley's Lover is a novel by D. H. Lawrence, first published in 1928. The first edition was printed privately in Florence, Italy with assistance from Pino Orioli; it could not be published openly in the United Kingdom until 1960...

trial.

He was a close friend of Siegfried Sassoon

Siegfried Sassoon

Siegfried Loraine Sassoon CBE MC was an English poet, author and soldier. Decorated for bravery on the Western Front, he became one of the leading poets of the First World War. His poetry both described the horrors of the trenches, and satirised the patriotic pretensions of those who, in Sassoon's...

, having fought in World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 alongside him, as his second-in-command, in France. He appears in the 'Sherston

Sherston trilogy

A series of books by the English poet and novelist, Siegfried Sassoon, consisting of Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man, Memoirs of an Infantry Officer, and Sherston's Progress...

' books (Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man

Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man

Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man is a novel by Siegfried Sassoon, first published in 1928 by Faber and Faber. It won both the Hawthornden Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, being immediately recognised as a classic of English literature...

etc.) written by Sassoon as Velmore.

After the war he was at the University of Oxford

University of Oxford

The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...

. Later he was Professor in the Department of English at the University of Nottingham

University of Nottingham

The University of Nottingham is a public research university based in Nottingham, United Kingdom, with further campuses in Ningbo, China and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia...

, from 1938 until 1961.

He is also known as the translator of France Prešeren

France Prešeren

France Prešeren was a Slovene Romantic poet. He is considered the Slovene national poet. Although he was not a particularly prolific author, he inspired virtually all Slovene literature thereafter....

's poetry into the English language

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

.

Works

• Works of Sir Charles Sedley
  Charles Sedley
  Sir Charles Sedley, 5th Baronet was an English wit, dramatist and politician, ending his career as Speaker of the House of Commons.-Life:...
  
  , with a study of Sedley (1928)
• The Tree of Life: An Anthology (1929) editor with George Neill Wright
• Peter Sterry: Platonist and Puritan, 1613-1672 (1934)
• The Invisible Sun - poems
• Crisis in English Poetry: 1880-1940
• The Common Muse An Anthology of Popular British Ballad Poetry 15th-20th Century, editor with Allan Edwin Rodway
• Restoration Carnival: Five courtier poets: Rochester, Dorset, Sedley, Etherege & Sheffield (1954)
• Reginald Mainwaring Hewitt: A Selection from his Literary Remains (1955)
• The Divine Vision: Studies in the Poetry and Art of William Blake (1957) editor
• Complete Poems of D. H. Lawrence (1964) editor with F. Warren Roberts
• Enthusiast in Wit: A Portrait of John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester, 1647-1680 (1962)
• The Restoration Court Poets: John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester; Charles Sackville, Earl of Dorset; Sir Charles Sedley; Sir George Etheredge (1965)
• The English Renaissance 1510-1680