
, his memoir of his early life, including his role in the First World War
, Goodbye to All That
, and his historical study of poetic inspiration, The White Goddess
—have never been out of print.
He earned his living from writing, particularly popular historical novels such as I, Claudius
, King Jesus
, The Golden Fleece, and Count Belisarius
.
To be a poet is a condition rather than a profession.
I believe that every English poet should read the English classics, master the rules of grammar before he attempts to bend or break them, travel abroad, experience the horror of sordid passion and — if he is lucky enough — know the love of an honest woman.
Anthropologists are a connecting link between poets and scientists; though their field-work among primitive peoples has often made them forget the language of science.
The remarkable thing about Shakespeare is that he is really very good — in spite of all the people who say he is very good.
A perfect poem is impossible. Once it had been written, the world would end.
Trench stinks of shallow buried deadWhere Tom stands at the periscope,Tired out. After nine months he’s shedAll fear, all faith, all hate, all hope.
Christ of His gentlenessThirsting and hungering,Walked in the wilderness;Soft words of grace He spokeUnto lost desert-folkThat listened wondering.
His eyes are quickened so with grief,He can watch a grass or leafEvery instant grow; he canClearly through a flint wall see,Or watch the startled spirit fleeFrom the throat of a dead man.
, his memoir of his early life, including his role in the First World War
, Goodbye to All That
, and his historical study of poetic inspiration, The White Goddess
—have never been out of print.
He earned his living from writing, particularly popular historical novels such as I, Claudius
, King Jesus
, The Golden Fleece, and Count Belisarius
. He also was a prominent translator of Classical
Latin and Ancient Greek texts; his versions of The Twelve Caesars and The Golden Ass
remain popular today for their clarity and entertaining style. Graves was awarded the 1934 James Tait Black Memorial Prize
for both I, Claudius and Claudius the God.
Early life
Graves was born into a middle-class family in Wimbledon in south London. He was the third of five children born to Alfred Perceval Graves(1846–1931), a school inspector, Gaelic
scholar, and the author of the popular song 'Father O'Flynn'; and his second wife, Amalie von Ranke (1857–1951). Graves's mother was from a recently-ennobled German family, the eldest daughter of Heinrich Ranke, professor of medicine at the University of Munich, and his wife, Luise. She was also a great-niece of the German historian Leopold von Ranke
. At the age of seven, double-pneumonia following measles
almost took Graves's life, the first of three occasions when he was given up by his doctors with afflictions of the lungs; the second being a war-wound (see below); the third when he contracted Spanish influenza in late 1918 immediately before demobilisation
. At school, Graves was enrolled as Robert von Ranke Graves and in Germany his books are published under that name, but before and during the war the name caused him difficulties. In August 1916 an officer who disliked him spread the rumour that he was a spy, brother to a captured German spy who had coincidentally taken the name Carl Graves. The problem resurfaced in a minor way in the Second World War, when a suspicious rural policeman blocked his appointment to the Special Constabulary
. Graves' eldest half-brother Philip Perceval Graves
achieved note as a journalist. and his younger brother Charles Patrick Graves
was a writer and journalist.
Education
Graves received his early education at a series of six preparatory schools, including King's College Schoolin Wimbledon
, Penrallt in Wales, and Copthorne
in West Sussex
, from which last in 1909 he won a scholarship
to Charterhouse
. There, in response to persecution—due to the German element in his name, his outspokenness, his scholarly and moral seriousness, and poverty relative to the other boys—he feigned madness, began to write poetry, and took up boxing, in due course becoming school champion at both welter-
and middleweight
. He also sang in the choir, meeting there an aristocratic boy three years younger, G. H. 'Peter' Johnstone, with whom he began an intense romantic friendship, the scandal of which led ultimately to an interview with the headmaster. Among the masters his chief influence was George Mallory
, who introduced him to contemporary literature and took him mountaineering in vacations. In his final year at Charterhouse he won a classical
exhibition
to St John's College, Oxford
, but would not take his place there until after the war.
First World War
At the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, Graves enlisted almost immediately, taking a commission in the Royal Welch Fusiliers (RWF). He published his first volume of poems, Over the Brazier, in 1916. He developed an early reputation as a war poet and was one of the first to write realistic poems about experience of front-line conflict. In later years, he omitted his war poems from his collections, on the grounds that they were too obviously "part of the war poetry boom". At the Battle of the Somme
, he was so badly wounded by a shell-fragment through the lung that he was expected to die and, indeed, was officially reported as having died of wounds. He gradually recovered, however; and, apart from a brief spell back in France, he spent the remainder of the war in England.
One of Graves's close friends at this time was the poet Siegfried Sassoon
, also an officer in the RWF. In 1917, Sassoon rebelled against the war by making a public anti-war statement. Graves feared Sassoon could face court martial and intervened with the military authorities, persuading them that Sassoon was suffering from shell shock
and that they should treat him accordingly. As a result Sassoon was sent to Craiglockhart
, a military hospital near Edinburgh, where he was treated by Dr. W. H. R. Rivers
and met fellow patient Wilfred Owen
. Graves also suffered from shell shock, or neurasthenia
as it was officially called, although he was never hospitalised for it:
I thought of going back to France, but realised the absurdity of the notion. Since 1916, the fear of gas obsessed me: any unusual smell, even a sudden strong smell of flowers in a garden, was enough to send me trembling. And I couldn't face the sound of heavy shelling now; the noise of a car back-firing would send me flat on my face, or running for cover.
The friendship between Graves and Sassoon is documented in Graves's letters and biographies, and the story is fictionalised in Pat Barker
's novel Regeneration
. The intensity of their early relationship is demonstrated in Graves's collection Fairies and Fusiliers (1917), which contains many poems celebrating their friendship. Sassoon himself remarked upon a "heavy sexual element" within it, an observation supported by the sentimental nature of much of the surviving correspondence between the two men. Through Sassoon, Graves became a friend of Wilfred Owen, "who often used to send me poems from France." Owen attended Graves's wedding to Nancy Nicholson
in January 1918, presenting him, as Graves recalled, with "a set of twelve Apostle spoon
s, the thirteenth, he joked, had been shot for cowardice". Graves's army career ended dramatically with an incident which could have led to a charge of desertion
. Having been posted to Limerick
in late 1918, he "woke up with a sudden chill, which I recognized as the first symptoms of Spanish influenza." "I decided to make a run for it," he wrote, "I should at least have my influenza in an English, and not an Irish, hospital." Arriving at Waterloo with a high fever but without the official papers that would secure his release from the army, he chanced to share a taxi with a demobilisation officer also returning from Ireland, who completed his papers for him with the necessary secret codes.
Post-war period
Immediately post-war, Graves had a wife and growing family, but was financially insecure, and weakened physically and mentally:Very thin, very nervous, and with about four years' loss of sleep to make up, I was waiting until I got well enough to go to Oxford on the Government educational grant. I knew that it would be years before I could face anything but a quiet country life. My disabilities were many: I could not use a telephone, I felt sick every time I travelled by train, and to see more than two new people in a single day prevented me from sleeping. I felt ashamed of myself as a drag on Nancy, but had sworn on the very day of my demobilization never to be under anyone's orders for the rest of my life. Somehow I must live by writing.In October 1919 he took up his place at Oxford, soon changing course to English
Language and Literature, though managing to retain his Classics exhibition. In consideration of his health he was permitted to live a little outside Oxford, on Boars Hill
, where the residents included Robert Bridges
, John Masefield
his landlord, Edmund Blunden
, Gilbert Murray
, and Robert Nichols. Later the family moved to Worlds End Cottage on Collice Street, Islip, Oxfordshire
. His most notable Oxford companion was T.E. Lawrence, then a Fellow
of All Souls
, with whom he discussed contemporary poetry and shared in the planning of elaborate pranks. He later attempted to make a living by running a small shop, but the business soon failed. In 1926 he took up a post at Cairo University
, accompanied by his wife, their children, and the poet Laura Riding
. He returned to London briefly, where he split up with his wife under highly emotional circumstances (at one point Riding attempted suicide) before leaving to live with Riding in Deià
, Majorca. There they continued to publish letterpress books under the rubric of the Seizin Press
, founded and edited the literary journal, Epilogue; they also wrote two successful academic books together: A Survey of Modernist Poetry (1927) and A Pamphlet Against Anthologies (1928); both had great influence on modern literary criticism, particularly new criticism
.
Literary career
In 1927 also, he published Lawrence and the Arabs, a commercially successful biography of T. E. Lawrence. Good-bye to All That (1929, revised by him and republished in 1957) proved a success but cost him many of his friends, notably Siegfried Sassoon
. In 1934 he published his most commercially successful work, I, Claudius
. Using classical sources he constructed a complex and compelling tale of the life of the Roman emperor Claudius
, a tale extended in the sequel Claudius the God (1935). Another historical novel by Graves, Count Belisarius
(1938), recounts the career of the Byzantine
general Belisarius
.
Graves and Riding left Majorca in 1936 at the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War
, and in 1939, they moved to the United States, taking lodging in New Hope, Pennsylvania
. Their volatile relationship was described by Robert's nephew Richard Perceval Graves
in Robert Graves: 1927–1940: the Years with Laura, and T.S. Matthews's Jacks or Better (1977). It was also the basis for Miranda Seymour
's novel The Summer of '39 (1998).
After returning to England, Graves began a relationship with Beryl Hodge, then the wife of Alan Hodge, his collaborator on The Long Week-End
(1941) and The Reader Over Your Shoulder (1943; republished in 1947 as The Use and Abuse of the English Language). In 1946 he and his new wife Beryl re-established a home in Deià
, Majorca. The house is now a museum. 1946 also saw the publication of the historical novel, King Jesus
. He published The White Goddess
in 1948. He turned to science fiction with Seven Days in New Crete
(1949), and in 1953 he published The Nazarene Gospel Restored with Joshua Podro.
In 1955, he published The Greek Myths
, containing translations and interpretations. His translations are well respected and continue to dominate the English-language market for mythography
. Many of his unconventional interpretations and etymologies are dismissed by classicists, but have provoked more research into the topics he raised. Graves in turn dismissed the reactions of classical scholars, arguing that they are too specialized and "prose-minded" to interpret "ancient poetic meaning", and that "the few independent thinkers...[are]...the poets, who try to keep civilization alive."
He published a volume of short stories, Catacrok! Mostly Stories, Mostly Funny, in 1956. In 1961 he became Professor of Poetry at Oxford, a post he held until 1966.
In 1967, Robert Graves published, together with Omar Ali-Shah
, a new translation of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
. The translation quickly became controversial; Graves was attacked for trying to break the spell of famed passages in Edward FitzGerald
's Victorian translation, and L. P. Elwell-Sutton, an orientalist at Edinburgh University, maintained that the manuscript used by Ali-Shah and Graves—which Ali-Shah and his brother Idries Shah
claimed had been in their family for 800 years—was a forgery. The translation was a critical disaster, and Graves' reputation suffered severely due to what the public perceived as his gullibility in falling for the Shah brothers' deception.
From the 1960s until his death, Robert Graves frequently exchanged letters with Spike Milligan
. Many of their letters to each other are collected in the book, Dear Robert, Dear Spike.
On 11 November 1985, Graves was among 16 Great War poets commemorated on a slate stone unveiled in Westminster Abbey's Poet's Corner. The inscription on the stone was written by friend and fellow Great War poet Wilfred Owen
. It reads: "My subject is War, and the pity of War. The Poetry is in the pity." Of the 16 poets, Graves was the only one still living at the time of the commemoration ceremony.
Death
During the early 1970s Graves began to suffer from increasingly severe memory loss, and by his eightieth birthday in 1975 he had come to the end of his working life. By this time he had published more than 140 works. He survived for ten more years in an increasingly dependent condition until he died from heart failure on 7 December 1985 aged 90. He was buried the next morning in the small churchyard on a hill at Deià, on the site of a shrine which had once been sacred to The White Goddess
of Pelion. His second wife Beryl Graves was buried with him on her own death on 27 October 2003.
Children
Robert Graves had eight children. With his first wife Nancy Nicholson he had Jennie (who married journalist Alexander Clifford), David (who was killed in the Second World War), Catherine (who married nuclear scientist Clifford Dalton
), and Sam. With his second wife, Beryl Graves (1915–2003), he had William, Lucia
(also a translator), Juan and Tomás
(a writer and musician).
Poetry collections
- Country Sentiment, New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1920
- Over the Brazier. London: William Heinemann, 1923; New York: Alfred. A. Knopf, 1923.
- The Feather Bed. Richmond, Surrey: Hogarth Press, 1923.
- Mock Beggar Hall. London: Hogarth Press, 1924.
- Welchmans Hose. London: The Fleuron, 1925.
- Poems. London: Ernest Benn, 1925.
- The Marmosites Miscellany (as John Doyle). London: Hogarth Press, 1925.
- Poems (1914–1926). London: William Heinemann, 1927; Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1929.
- Poems (1914–1927). London: William Heinemann
- To Whom Else? Deyá, Majorca: Seizin Press, 1931.
- Poems 1930–1933. London: Arthur Barker, 1933.
- Collected Poems. London: Cassell, 1938; New York: Random House, 1938.
- No More Ghosts: Selected Poems. London: Faber & Faber, 1940.
- Work in Hand, with Norman Cameron and Alan Hodge. London: Hogarth Press, 1942.
- Poems. London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1943.
- Poems 1938–1945. London: Cassell, 1945; New York: Creative Age Press, 1946.
- Collected Poems (1914–1947). London: Cassell, 1948.
- Poems and Satires. London: Cassell, 1951.
- Poems 1953. London: Cassell, 1953.
- Collected Poems 1955. New York: Doubleday, 1955.
- Poems Selected by Himself. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1957; rev. 1961, 1966, 1972, 1978.
- The Poems of Robert Graves. New York: Doubleday, 1958.
- Collected Poems 1959. London: Cassell, 1959.
- The Penny Fiddle: Poems for Children. London: Cassell, 1960; New York: Doubleday, 1961.
- More Poems 1961. London: Cassell, 1961.
- Collected Poems. New York: Doubleday, 1961.
- New Poems 1962. London: Cassell, 1962; as New Poems. New York: Doubleday, 1963.
- The More Deserving Cases: Eighteen Old Poems for Reconsideration. Marlborough College Press, 1962.
- Man Does, Woman Is. London: Cassell, 1964/New York:Doubleday, 1964.
- Ann at Highwood Hall: Poems for Children. London: Cassell, 1964.
- Love Respelt. London: Cassell, 1965/New York: Doubleday, 1966.
- One Hard Look, 1965
- Collected Poems, 1965. London: Cassell, 1965.
- Seventeen Poems Missing from "Love Respelt". privately printed, 1966.
- Colophon to "Love Respelt". Privately printed, 1967.
- Poems 1965–1968. London: Cassell, 1968; New York: Doubleday, 1969.
- Poems About Love. London: Cassell, 1969; New York: Doubleday, 1969.
- Love Respelt Again. New York: Doubleday, 1969.
- Beyond Giving. privately printed, 1969.
- Poems 1968–1970. London: Cassell, 1970; New York: Doubleday, 1971.
- The Green-Sailed Vessel. privately printed, 1971.
- Poems: Abridged for Dolls and Princes. London: Cassell, 1971.
- Poems 1970–1972. London: Cassell, 1972; New York: Doubleday, 1973.
- Deyá, A Portfolio. London: Motif Editions, 1972.
- Timeless Meeting: Poems. privately printed, 1973.
- At the Gate. privately printed, London, 1974.
- Collected Poems 1975. London: Cassell, 1975.
- New Collected Poems. New York: Doubleday, 1977.
- Selected Poems, ed. Paul O'PreyPaul O'PreyProfessor Paul O'Prey is Vice-Chancellor of Roehampton University in London, where he is also Professor of Modern Literature. He was appointed in 2004.O'Prey was born in Southampton in 1956, the youngest of five children...
. London: Penguin, 1986 - The Centenary Selected Poems, ed. Patrick Quinn. Manchester: Carcanet Press, 1995.
- Complete Poems Volume 1, ed. Beryl Graves and Dunstan Ward. Manchester: Carcanet PressCarcanet PressCarcanet Press is a publisher, primarily of poetry, based in the United Kingdom and founded in 1969 by Michael Schmidt.Carcanet Press is now in its fourth decade. In 2000 it was named the Sunday Times millennium Small Publisher of the Year...
, 1995. - Complete Poems Volume 2, ed. Beryl Graves and Dunstan Ward. Manchester: Carcanet PressCarcanet PressCarcanet Press is a publisher, primarily of poetry, based in the United Kingdom and founded in 1969 by Michael Schmidt.Carcanet Press is now in its fourth decade. In 2000 it was named the Sunday Times millennium Small Publisher of the Year...
, 1996. - Complete Poems Volume 3, ed. Beryl Graves and Dunstan Ward. Manchester: Carcanet PressCarcanet PressCarcanet Press is a publisher, primarily of poetry, based in the United Kingdom and founded in 1969 by Michael Schmidt.Carcanet Press is now in its fourth decade. In 2000 it was named the Sunday Times millennium Small Publisher of the Year...
, 1999. - The Complete Poems in One Volume, ed. Beryl Graves and Dunstan Ward. Manchester: Carcanet PressCarcanet PressCarcanet Press is a publisher, primarily of poetry, based in the United Kingdom and founded in 1969 by Michael Schmidt.Carcanet Press is now in its fourth decade. In 2000 it was named the Sunday Times millennium Small Publisher of the Year...
, 2000.
Fiction
- My Head! My Head!. London: Secker, 1925; Alfred. A. Knopf, New York, 1925.
- The Shout. London: Mathews & Marrot, 1929.
- No Decency Left. (with Laura Riding) (as Barbara Rich). London: Jonathan Cape, 1932.
- The Real David Copperfield. London: Arthur Barker, 1933; as David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens, Condensed by Robert Graves, ed. M. P. Paine. New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1934.
- I, ClaudiusI, ClaudiusI, Claudius is a novel by English writer Robert Graves, written in the form of an autobiography of the Roman Emperor Claudius. As such, it includes history of the Julio-Claudian Dynasty and Roman Empire, from Julius Caesar's assassination in 44 BC to Caligula's assassination in AD 41...
. London: Arthur Barker, 1934; New York: Smith & Haas, 1934.- Sequel: Claudius the God and his Wife Messalina. London: Arthur Barker, 1934; New York: Smith & Haas, 1935.
- Antigua, Penny, Puce. Deyá, Majorca/London: Seizin Press/Constable, 1936; New York: Random House, 1937.
- Count BelisariusCount BelisariusCount Belisarius is a historical novel by Robert Graves, first published in 1938, recounting the life of the Byzantine general Belisarius ....
. London: Cassell, 1938: Random House, New York, 1938. - Sergeant Lamb of the Ninth. London: Methuen, 1940; as Sergeant Lamb's America. New York: Random House, 1940.
- Sequel: Proceed, Sergeant Lamb. London: Methuen, 1941; New York: Random House, 1941.
- The Story of Marie Powell: Wife to Mr. MiltonThe Story of Marie Powell: Wife to Mr. MiltonThe Story of Marie Powell: Wife to Mr. Milton, by Robert Graves, 1943. ISBN 0-14-001024-6. This is based on a true story, the young wife of poet John Milton. He tells it from her viewpoint and paints an unflattering portrait of the man...
. London: Cassell, 1943; as Wife to Mr Milton: The Story of Marie Powell. New York: Creative Age Press, 1944. - The Golden Fleece. London: Cassell, 1944; as Hercules, My Shipmate, New York: Creative Age Press, 1945.
- King JesusKing JesusKing Jesus is a semi-historical novel by Robert Graves, first published in 1946. The novel treats Jesus not as the son of God, but rather as a philosopher with a legitimate claim to the Judaean throne through Herod the Great, as well as the Davidic monarchy; and treats numerous Biblical stories in...
. New York: Creative Age Press, 1946; London: Cassell, 1946. - Watch the North Wind Rise. New York: Creative Age Press, 1949; as Seven Days in New CreteSeven Days in New CreteSeven Days in New Crete, also known as Watch the North Wind Rise, is a seminal future-utopian speculative fiction novel by Robert Graves, first published in 1949.-Summary:...
. London: Cassell, 1949. - The Islands of UnwisdomThe Islands of UnwisdomThe Islands of Unwisdom, by Robert Graves, 1949. Also published in the UK as The Isles of Unwisdom. It is a reconstruction of an historic event, the voyage of voyage of Álvaro de Mendaña de Neirato find the Solomon Islands. Graves tells a rather surprising story, in which some people turn out to...
. New York: Doubleday, 1949; as The Isles of Unwisdom. London: Cassell, 1950. - Homer's Daughter. London: Cassell, 1955; New York: Doubleday, 1955.
- Catacrok! Mostly Stories, Mostly Funny. London: Cassell, 1956.
- They Hanged My Saintly Billy. London: Cassell, 1957; New York: Doubleday, 1957.
- Collected Short Stories. Doubleday: New York, 1964; Cassell, London, 1965.
- An Ancient Castle. London: Peter Owen, 1980.
Other works
- On English Poetry. New York: Alfred. A. Knopf, 1922; London: Heinemann, 1922.
- The Meaning of Dreams. London: Cecil Palmer, 1924; New York: Greenberg, 1925.
- Poetic Unreason and Other Studies. London: Cecil Palmer, 1925.
- Contemporary Techniques of Poetry: A Political Analogy. London: Hogarth Press, 1925.
- Another Future of Poetry. London: Hogarth Press, 1926.
- Impenetrability or The Proper Habit of English. London: Hogarth Press, 1927.
- The English Ballad: A Short Critical Survey. London: Ernest Benn, 1927; revised as English and Scottish Ballads. London: William HeinemannWilliam HeinemannWilliam Heinemann was the founder of the Heinemann publishing house in London.He was born in 1863, in Surbiton, Surrey. In his early life he wanted to be a musician, either as a performer or a composer, but, realising that he lacked the ability to be successful in that field, he took a job with...
, 1957; New York: Macmillan, 1957. - Lars Porsena or The Future of Swearing and Improper Language. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner, 1927; E.P. Dutton, New York, 1927; revised as The Future of Swearing and Improper Language. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner, 1936.
- A Survey of Modernist Poetry (with Laura Riding). London: William Heinemann, 1927; New York: Doubleday, 1928.
- Lawrence and the Arabs. London: Jonathan Cape, 1927; as Lawrence and the Arabian Adventure. New York: Doubleday, 1928.
- A Pamphlet Against Anthologies (with Laura Riding). London: Jonathan Cape, 1928; as Against Anthologies. New York: Doubleday, 1928.
- Mrs. Fisher or The Future of Humour. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner, 1928.
- Good-bye to All That: An Autobiography. London: Jonathan Cape, 1929; New York: Jonathan Cape and Smith, 1930; rev., New York: Doubleday, 1957; London: Cassell, 1957; Penguin: Harmondsworth, 1960.
- But It Still Goes On: An Accumulation. London: Jonathan Cape, 1930; New York: Jonathan Cape and Smith, 1931.
- T. E. Lawrence to His Biographer Robert Graves. New York: Doubleday, 1938; London: Faber & Faber, 1939.
- The Long Weekend (with Alan Hodge). London: Faber & Faber, 1940; New York: Macmillan, 1941.
- The Reader Over Your Shoulder (with Alan Hodge). London: Jonathan Cape, 1943; New York: Macmillan, 1943.
- The White GoddessThe White GoddessThe White Goddess: a Historical Grammar of Poetic Myth is a book-length essay on the nature of poetic myth-making by author and poet Robert Graves. First published in 1948, based on earlier articles published in Wales magazine, corrected, revised and enlarged editions appeared in 1948, 1952 and 1961...
. London: Faber & Faber, 1948; New York: Creative Age Press, 1948; rev., London: Faber & Faber, 1952, 1961; New York: Alfred. A. Knopf, 1958. - The Common Asphodel: Collected Essays on Poetry 1922–1949. London: Hamish Hamilton, 1949.
- Occupation: Writer. New York: Creative Age Press, 1950; London: Cassell, 1951.
- The Golden AssThe Golden AssThe Metamorphoses of Apuleius, which St. Augustine referred to as The Golden Ass , is the only Latin novel to survive in its entirety....
of ApuleiusApuleiusApuleius was a Latin prose writer. He was a Berber, from Madaurus . He studied Platonist philosophy in Athens; travelled to Italy, Asia Minor and Egypt; and was an initiate in several cults or mysteries. The most famous incident in his life was when he was accused of using magic to gain the...
, New York: Farrar, Straus, 1951. - The Nazarene Gospel Restored (with Joshua Podro). London: Cassell, 1953; New York: Doubleday, 1954.
- The Greek MythsThe Greek MythsThe Greek Myths is a mythography, a compendium of Greek mythology, by the poet and writer Robert Graves, normally published in two volumes....
. London: Penguin, 1955; Baltimore: Penguin, 1955. - The Crowning Privilege: The Clark Lectures, 1954–1955. London: Cassell, 1955; New York: Doubleday, 1956.
- Adam's Rib. London: Trianon Press, 1955; New York: Yoseloff, 1958.
- Jesus in Rome (with Joshua Podro). London: Cassell, 1957.
- Steps. London: Cassell, 1958.
- 5 Pens in Hand. New York: Doubleday, 1958.
- Food for Centaurs. New York: Doubleday, 1960.
- Greek Gods and Heroes. New York: Doubleday, 1960; as Myths of Ancient Greece. London: Cassell, 1961.
- Selected Poetry and Prose (ed. James Reeves). London: Hutchinson, 1961.
- Oxford Addresses on Poetry. London: Cassell, 1962; New York: Doubleday, 1962.
- The Siege and Fall of Troy. London: Cassell, 1962; New York: Doubleday, 1963.
- The Big Green Book. New York: Crowell Collier, 1962; Penguin: Harmondsworth, 1978. Illustrated by Maurice SendakMaurice SendakMaurice Bernard Sendak is an American writer and illustrator of children's literature. He is best known for his book Where the Wild Things Are, published in 1963.-Early life:...
- Hebrew Myths. The Book of Genesis (with Raphael PataiRaphael PataiRaphael Patai , born Ervin György Patai, was a Hungarian-Jewish ethnographer, historian, Orientalist and anthropologist.-Family background:...
). New York: Doubleday, 1964; London: Cassell, 1964. - Majorca Observed. London: Cassell, 1965; New York: Doubleday, 1965.
- Mammon and the Black Goddess. London: Cassell, 1965; New York: Doubleday, 1965.
- Two Wise Children. New York: Harlin Quist, 1966; London: Harlin Quist, 1967.
- The Rubaiyyat of Omar Khayyam (with Omar Ali-ShahOmar Ali-ShahOmar Ali-Shah was a prominent exponent of modern Naqshbandi Sufism who lived from 1922 to 2005. He wrote a number of books on the subject, and was head of a large number of sufi groups, particularly in Latin America, Europe and Canada.- Life and work :...
). London: Cassell, 1967. - Poetic Craft and Principle. London: Cassell, 1967.
- The Poor Boy Who Followed His Star. London: Cassell, 1968; New York: Doubleday, 1969.
- Greek Myths and Legends. London: Cassell, 1968.
- The Crane Bag. London: Cassell, 1969.
- On Poetry: Collected Talks and Essays. New York: Doubleday, 1969.
- Difficult Questions, Easy Answers. London: Cassell, 1972; New York: Doubleday, 1973.
- In Broken Images: Selected Letters 1914–1946, ed. Paul O'PreyPaul O'PreyProfessor Paul O'Prey is Vice-Chancellor of Roehampton University in London, where he is also Professor of Modern Literature. He was appointed in 2004.O'Prey was born in Southampton in 1956, the youngest of five children...
. London: Hutchinson, 1982 - Between Moon and Moon: Selected Letters 1946–1972, ed. Paul O'PreyPaul O'PreyProfessor Paul O'Prey is Vice-Chancellor of Roehampton University in London, where he is also Professor of Modern Literature. He was appointed in 2004.O'Prey was born in Southampton in 1956, the youngest of five children...
. London: Hutchinson, 1984 - Collected Writings on Poetry, ed. Paul O'PreyPaul O'PreyProfessor Paul O'Prey is Vice-Chancellor of Roehampton University in London, where he is also Professor of Modern Literature. He was appointed in 2004.O'Prey was born in Southampton in 1956, the youngest of five children...
, Manchester: Carcanet Press, 1995. - Complete Short Stories, ed. Lucia GravesLucia GravesLucia Graves is a writer and translator.Born in Devon, England she is the daughter of Robert Graves, and is herself a translator working in English and Spanish/Catalan. Her translations include the worldwide bestsellers The Shadow of the Wind and The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafón, and The...
, Manchester: Carcanet Press, 1995. - Some Speculations on Literature, History, and Religion, ed. Patrick Quinn, Manchester: Carcanet Press, 2000.
- November 5 address, X magazineX (magazine)X, A Quarterly Review was a British arts review published in London which ran for seven issues between 1959-1962. It was founded and co-edited by Patrick Swift and David Wright...
, Volume One, Number Three, June 1960; An Anthology from XX (magazine)X, A Quarterly Review was a British arts review published in London which ran for seven issues between 1959-1962. It was founded and co-edited by Patrick Swift and David Wright...
(Oxford University Press 1988).
See also
- English translations of Homer: Robert Graves
External links
- Robert Graves Trust and Society Information Portal
- Profile at Poetry Foundation
- Profile, poems written and audio at poets.org
- Profile, poems written and audio at Poetry Archive
- Gallery of Graves' portraits, National Portrait Gallery, London
Works and archives
- The Robert Graves Digital Archive by Oxford University
- Robert Graves archives at University of Victoria, Special Collections
- Robert Graves Papers at Southern Illinois University Carbondale Special Collections Research Center