Richard Aldington

Richard Aldington (July 8, 1892 – July 27, 1962) was an English writer and poet. He was best known for his World War I poetry and the novel Death of a Hero.

Related Topics:
July 8 - 1892 - July 27 - 1962 - English - Poet - World War I

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Aldington was born in Portsmouth and educated at Dover College and the University of London; he was unable to complete his degree because of the financial circumstances of his family. He met the poet H.D. in 1911 and they married two years later. Between 1914 and 1916 he was literary editor of The Egoist. He served on the Western Front in 1916–18, and never completely recovered from the experience. His poetry belongs to the Imagist school, and his work forms almost half of the pivotal collection Des Imagistes (1912). Aldington finally divorced H.D. in 1938, though they had been separated since the early years of the First World War and he had been in several subsequent long-term relationships; they remained friends, though, for the rest of their lives.

Related Topics:
Portsmouth - Dover College - University of London - H.D. - 1911 - 1914 - 1916 - The Egoist - Western Front - Imagist - 1912 - 1938 - First World War

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Death of a Hero, published in 1929 was his literary response to the war, commended by Lawrence Durrell as 'the best war novel of the epoch'. He went on to publish several works of fiction. In 1942, having moved to the United States with his new wife Netta Patmore, he began to write biographies. The first was one of Wellington (The Duke: Being an Account of the Life & Achievements of Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, 1943) . It was followed by works on D. H. Lawrence (Portrait of a Genius, But..., 1950), Robert Louis Stevenson (Portrait of a Rebel, 1957), and T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia: A Biographical Inquiry, 1955). His biography of Lawrence made many controversial assertions now acknowledged to be true, but its iconoclastic nature was a blow to his own popularity in England, from which his reputation has never fully recovered.

Related Topics:
1929 - Lawrence Durrell - 1942 - United States - Wellington - D. H. Lawrence - Robert Louis Stevenson - T. E. Lawrence

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Aldington died in France in 1962.

Related Topics:
France - 1962

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