One of Robert Graves's favorites among his own poems is “The Naked and the Nude,” frequently anthologized but rarely commented upon by critics. Sir Kenneth Clark's The Nude: A Study in Ideal Form (1956), a work of art history, most likely served as the initial stimulus for this poem. The initial chapter of Clark's book, which appeared one year before Graves's poem, has the same title as the poem. Analysis shows that the poem develops an argument for frank, direct nakedness as opposed to cunning, prurient nudity; this argument is also implied in Clark's monumental study of nude art. Further, Clark is himself influenced by various English poets; hence, a reciprocal process is here at woik, resulting in a cross-pollination between two distinct disciplines. Discovery of this catalyst for Graves's poem is valuable because it provides us with insights into the nature of Graves's imaginative processes, and it also helps to explain Graves's preference for this poem.