Robert Graves was born on July 24th, 1895 in Wimbledon, England. His father was Alfred Perceval Graves was a poet and his mother was Amalie von Ranke Graves. His mother is related to Leopold von Ranke, a founding father of modern historical studies. Graves had nine siblings.
In 1913, Graves attained a scholarship to attend St. John’s College in Oxford but he deferred to enlist as a junior officer in August of 1914. Graves was injured in the Somme offensive in 1916 and during the next year, he published his first collection of poetry, Over the Brazier. He was injured again in 1918 from fighting.
In 1918, Graves marred Nancy Nicholson and had four children. He taught at St. John’s College in Oxford. At this point, his poetry reflected his experiences with war.
Graves did not meet Laura Riding until 1926 and divorced Nancy in 1927. Riding and Graces formed their own press, the Seizin Press. She was one of the greatest influences in his works since there is a shift in his writing style before and after he met Riding. In 1928 he published an autobiography, Good-bye To All That.
Due to the Spanish Civil War in 1936, Riding and Graves moved to America. Riding divorced Graves in 1939 for Schuyler Jackson. Graves did not marry again, but had a relationship with Beryl Hodge until he died. After the 1940’s Graves wrote predominantly on mythology.
After World War II, Graves moved back to Majorca, England and back to England in 1961 to 1966 to teach at Oxford. Graves died in 1985 at ninety years old.
His works won him the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry in 1968.
(poetry.org)
Laura Riding & Robert Graves 