(Edward Godfree) Richard Aldington by Howard Coster 10 x 8 inch film negative, 1931

Richard Aldington (8 July 1892 – 27 July 1962), born Edward Godfree Aldington, was an English writer and poet, and an early associate of the Imagist movement. He was married to the poet

Hilda Doolittle Hilda Doolittle (September 10, 1886 – September 27, 1961) was an American modernist poet, novelist, and memoirist who wrote under the name H.D. throughout her life. Her career began in 1911 after she moved to London and co-founded the ...

(H. D.) from 1911 to 1938. His 50-year writing career covered poetry, novels, criticism and biography. He edited ''

The Egoist ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in ...

'', a literary journal, and wrote for ''

The Times Literary Supplement ''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp. History The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to ''The Times'' but became a separate publication ...

'', '' Vogue'', ''

The Criterion ''The Criterion'' was a British literary magazine published from October 1922 to January 1939. ''The Criterion'' (or the ''Criterion'') was, for most of its run, a quarterly journal, although for a period in 1927–28 it was published monthly. It ...

'' and ''

Poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek '' poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings ...

''. His biography of ''Wellington'' (1946) won him the

James Tait Black Memorial Prize The James Tait Black Memorial Prizes are literary prizes awarded for literature written in the English language. They, along with the Hawthornden Prize, are Britain's oldest literary awards. Based at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, U ...

. His contacts included writers

T. S. Eliot Thomas Stearns Eliot (26 September 18884 January 1965) was a poet, essayist, publisher, playwright, literary critic and editor.Bush, Ronald. "T. S. Eliot's Life and Career", in John A Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (eds), ''American National Biogr ...

D. H. Lawrence David Herbert Lawrence (11 September 1885 – 2 March 1930) was an English writer, novelist, poet and essayist. His works reflect on modernity, industrialization, sexuality, emotional health, vitality, spontaneity and instinct. His best-k ...

Ezra Pound Ezra Weston Loomis Pound (30 October 1885 – 1 November 1972) was an expatriate American poet and critic, a major figure in the early modernist poetry movement, and a fascist collaborator in Italy during World War II. His works includ ...

, W. B. Yeats,

Lawrence Durrell Lawrence George Durrell (; 27 February 1912 – 7 November 1990) was an expatriate British novelist, poet, dramatist, and travel writer. He was the eldest brother of naturalist and writer Gerald Durrell. Born in India to British colonial par ...

, C. P. Snow, and others. He championed Hilda Doolittle as the major poetic voice of the Imagist movement and helped her work gain international notice.

Early life and marriage

Aldington was born in

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city status in the United Kingdom, city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is admi ...

, the eldest of four children and the son of a solicitor. Both his parents wrote and published books, and their home held a large library of European and classical literature. As well as reading, Aldington's interests at this time, all of which continued in later life, included butterfly-collecting, hiking, and learning languages – he went on to master French, Italian, Latin, and ancient Greek. He was educated at Mr. Sweetman's Seminary for Young Gentlemen, St Margaret's Bay, near Dover. His father died of heart problems at age 56.Charles Doyle (2016), ''Richard Aldington: A Biography'', Springer, pp. 1–5.Caroline Zilboorg, ed. (2003), ''Richard Aldington and H.D.: Their Lives in Letters, Volume 4'', Manchester University Press pp. 1–30. Aldington attended

Dover College , motto_translation = I cannot refuse the task , established = , closed = , type = Public SchoolIndependent day and boarding , religion = Church of England , headmaster = Simon Fisher , r_head_label = , r_head ...

, followed by the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degre ...

.Peter Jones (editor), ''Imagist Poetry'' (1972), p. 163. He was unable to complete his degree because of the financial circumstances of his family caused by his father's failed speculations and ensuing debt. Supported by a small allowance from his parents, he worked as a sports journalist, started publishing poetry in British journals, and gravitated towards literary circles that included poets

William Butler Yeats William Butler Yeats (13 June 186528 January 1939) was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and became a pillar of the Irish liter ...

and

Walter de la Mare Walter John de la Mare (; 25 April 1873 – 22 June 1956) was an English poet, short story writer, and novelist. He is probably best remembered for his works for children, for his poem "The Listeners", and for a highly acclaimed selection of ...

.Poetry Foundation
biographyEncyclopedia Britannica profile
/ref>War Poets Assoc. profile
/ref> In 1911 Aldington met society hostess Brigit Patmore, with whom he had a passing affair. At the time he was described as "tall and broad-shouldered, with a fine forehead, thick longish hair of the indefinite colour blond hair turns to in adolescence, very bright blue eyes, too small a nose, and a determined mouth." Through her he met American poets

and

, who had previously been engaged to each other. Doolittle and Aldington grew closer and in 1913 travelled together extensively through Italy and France, just before the war. On their return to London in the summer they moved into separate flats in Churchwalk, Kensington, in West London. Doolittle lived at No. 6, Aldington at No. 8, and Pound at No. 10. In the presence of Pound and the Doolittle family, over from America for the summer, the couple married. They moved to 5 Holland Place Chambers into a flat of their own, although Pound soon moved in across the hall. The poets were caught up in the literary ferment before the war, where new politics and ideas were passionately discussed and created in

Soho Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century. The area was develo ...

tearooms and society salons. The couple bonded over their visions of new forms of poetry, feminism, and philosophy, emerging from the wake of staid Victorian mores. The couple were fed by a sense of peership and mutualism between them, rejecting hierarchies, beginning to view Pound as an intruder and interloper rather than a literary igniter. The couple met influential American poet

Amy Lowell Amy Lawrence Lowell (February 9, 1874 – May 12, 1925) was an American poet of the imagist school, which promoted a return to classical values. She posthumously won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1926. Life Amy Lowell was born on Febr ...

and she introduced them to writer D. H. Lawrence in 1914, who would become a close friend and mentor to both.

Early career

Aldington's poetry was associated with the

Imagist Imagism was a movement in early-20th-century Anglo-American poetry that favored precision of imagery and clear, sharp language. It is considered to be the first organized modernist literary movement in the English language. Imagism is sometim ...

group, championing minimalist free verse with stark images, seeking to banish Victorian moralism. The group was key in the emerging Modernist movement.

coined the term ''imagistes'' for H. D. and Aldington (1912). Aldington's poetry forms almost one third of the Imagists' inaugural anthology ''Des Imagistes'' (1914). The movement was heavily inspired by Japanese and classical European art. Aldington shared T. E. Hulme's conviction that experimentation with traditional Japanese verse forms could provide a way forward for

avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...

literature in English.

Pound sent three of Aldington's poems to

Harriet Monroe Harriet Monroe (December 23, 1860 – September 26, 1936) was an American editor, scholar, literary critic, poet, and patron of the arts. She was the founding publisher and long-time editor of ''Poetry'' magazine, first published in 1912. As a ...

's magazine ''Poetry'' and they appeared in November 1912. She notes "Mr Richard Aldington is a young English poet, one of the "Imagistes", a group of ardent Hellenists who are pursuing interesting experiments in vers libre."She considered the poem "Choricos" to be his finest work, "one of the most beautiful death songs in the language" "a poem of studied and affected gravity".''LRB''
Vol. 37 No. 2 · 22 January 2015. H.D. became pregnant in August 1914, and in 1915 Aldington and

H.D. Hilda Doolittle (September 10, 1886 – September 27, 1961) was an American modernist poet, novelist, and memoirist who wrote under the name H.D. throughout her life. Her career began in 1911 after she moved to London and co-founded the ...

relocated from their home in

Holland Park Holland Park is an area of Kensington, on the western edge of Central London, that contains a street and public park of the same name. It has no official boundaries but is roughly bounded by Kensington High Street to the south, Holland Road to ...

near Ezra Pound to Hampstead close to

and Frieda. They felt calmer out of the bustle of the city, with more space and green. The pregnancy ended in a stillborn daughter, which traumatised the couple and put a great strain on the relationship; H.D. was 28 and Aldington 22. The outbreak of war in 1914 deeply disturbed Aldington, though no draft was in place at this time. H.D. felt more distant from the melee, not having a close affinity to the European landscape, geographical or political. This rift also put pressure on the marriage. Unhappy, Aldington dreamed of escape to America and began to have affairs. He began a relationship with Florence Fallas, who had also lost a child. Between 1914 and 1916 Aldington was literary editor and a columnist at ''The Egoist''. He was assistant editor with Leonard Compton-Rickett under Dora Marsden. Aldington knew

Wyndham Lewis Percy Wyndham Lewis (18 November 1882 – 7 March 1957) was a British writer, painter and critic. He was a co-founder of the Vorticist movement in art and edited '' BLAST,'' the literary magazine of the Vorticists. His novels include '' Tarr'' ...

well and reviewed his work in ''

''. He was also an associate of

Ford Madox Ford Ford Madox Ford (né Joseph Leopold Ford Hermann Madox Hueffer ( ); 17 December 1873 – 26 June 1939) was an English novelist, poet, critic and editor whose journals '' The English Review'' and '' The Transatlantic Review'' were instrumental i ...

's, helping him with a propaganda volume for a government commission in 1914 and taking dictation for '' The Good Soldier''.

First World War and aftermath

Aldington joined up in June 1916 and was sent for training at Wareham in Dorset. H.D. moved to be closer to her husband. He then was sent to a camp near Manchester. They found the duality of their lives harsh, and the gruelling, regimented nature of the training felt hard for the sensitive professional poet. He felt fundamentally different from the other men, more given to intellectual pursuits than unending physical labour that left him little time to write. Their sporadic meetings were emotionally wrenching and the couple could make no plans for their future together. He encouraged H.D. to return to America where she could make a safer and more stable home. They both watched news come in of heavy troop losses in France at the

Somme __NOTOC__ Somme or The Somme may refer to: Places *Somme (department), a department of France *Somme, Queensland, Australia *Canal de la Somme, a canal in France *Somme (river), a river in France Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Somme'' (book), a ...

and on other battlefields. She could not have information given on her husband's future postings overseas, all held to be secret. Rationing and the forced draft began as the war turned against the British. When Aldington was sent to the front in December 1916, the couple's relationship became epistolary. He wrote that he'd managed to complete 12 poems and three essays since joining up and wanted to work on producing a new book, in order to keep his mind on literature, despite his work of digging graves. He found the soldier's life degrading, living with

lice Louse ( : lice) is the common name for any member of the clade Phthiraptera, which contains nearly 5,000 species of wingless parasitic insects. Phthiraptera has variously been recognized as an order, infraorder, or a parvorder, as a resul ...

, cold, mud and little sanitation. His encounters with gas on the front would affect him for the rest of his life. He was given leave in July 1917 and the couple enjoyed a reunion during this brief reprieve. He felt distant from old Imagist friends like Pound who had not undergone the tortuous life of the soldiers on the front and could not imagine the living conditions. Aldington joined up in the 11th Leicestershires and was later commissioned as a

second lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until 1 ...

in the

Royal Sussex Regiment The Royal Sussex Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army that was in existence from 1881 to 1966. The regiment was formed in 1881 as part of the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the 35th (Royal Sussex) Regiment of Foot ...

(November 1917). He finished the war as a signals officer and temporary captain, being demobilised in February 1919. He may never have completely recovered from the war, writing of his own field experiences in the collections ''Images of War'' and ''Images of Desire'' (1919), which were suffused with a new melancholy. He ended the war feeling disconsolate about his own talent as a poet. ''Exile and Other Poems'' (1923) also dealt with the process of trauma. A collection of war stories ''Roads to Glory'', appeared in 1930. After this point he became known as a critic and biographer. Towards the end of the war H.D. lived with composer Cecil Gray, a friend of D. H. Lawrence's. They had a daughter together in March 1919, the pregnancy much complicated by H.D.'s catching pneumonia towards the end. Neither Gray nor Aldington wanted to accept paternity. By the time of Aldington's return H.D. was involved with the female writer Bryher. H.D. and Aldington formally separated and had relationships with other people, but they didn't divorce until 1938. They remained friends for the rest of their lives. He destroyed all the couple's pre-1918 correspondence. Aldington helped

by persuading Harriet Shaw Weaver to appoint Eliot as Aldington's successor at ''The Egoist'' magazine. In 1919 he introduced Eliot to the editor Bruce Richmond of ''

''.

Carole Seymour-Jones Carole Veronica Gillian Seymour-Jones (3 March 1943 – 23 May 2015) was a Welsh writer. She taught history at Surrey University. She wrote biographies of Beatrice Webb and Vivienne Haigh-Wood Eliot. Biography Seymour-Jones was born in Towy ...

, ''Painted Shadow'' (2001), p. 173. Aldington was on the editorial board of

Chaman Lall Chaman (Balochi, Pashto and ur, ) is a city and recently claimed as a new district of Balochistan named Chaman District as it was earlier a part of district Qila Abdullah District located on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. It is the capital of ...

's London literary quarterly ''Coterie'' (published 1919–1921), accompanied by

Conrad Aiken Conrad Potter Aiken (August 5, 1889 – August 17, 1973) was an American writer and poet, honored with a Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Award, and was United States Poet Laureate from 1950 to 1952. His published works include poetry, short s ...

, Eliot, Lewis and

Aldous Huxley Aldous Leonard Huxley (26 July 1894 – 22 November 1963) was an English writer and philosopher. He wrote nearly 50 books, both novels and non-fiction works, as well as wide-ranging essays, narratives, and poems. Born into the prominent Huxle ...

. Eliot had a job in the international department of

Lloyds Bank Lloyds Bank plc is a British retail banking, retail and commercial bank with branches across England and Wales. It has traditionally been considered one of the "Big Four (banking), Big Four" clearing house (finance), clearing banks. Lloyds B ...

and well-meaning friends wanted him full-time writing poetry. Ezra Pound, plotting a scheme to "get Eliot out of the bank", was supported by

Lady Ottoline Morrell Lady Ottoline Violet Anne Morrell (16 June 1873 – 21 April 1938) was an English aristocrat and society hostess. Her patronage was influential in artistic and intellectual circles, where she befriended writers including Aldous Huxley, Siegf ...

Leonard Woolf Leonard Sidney Woolf (; – ) was a British political theorist, author, publisher, and civil servant. He was married to author Virginia Woolf. As a member of the Labour Party and the Fabian Society, Woolf was an avid publisher of his own w ...

and Harry Norton Aldington began publishing in journals such as the Imagist ''The Chapbook''. In reply to Eliot's ''

The Waste Land ''The Waste Land'' is a poem by T. S. Eliot, widely regarded as one of the most important poems of the 20th century and a central work of Modernist poetry in English, modernist poetry. Published in 1922, the 434-line poem first appeared in the ...

'', Aldington wrote ''A Fool i' the Forest'' (1924). Valentine_Dobree_by_Mark_Gertler,_1919

Aldington suffered a breakdown in 1925.Caroline Zilboorg (editor), ''Richard Aldington and H.D.: Their Lives in Letters 1918–61'', p. 185. His interest in poetry waned, and he developed an animosity towards Eliot's celebrity. Aldington grew closer to Eliot but gradually became a supporter of Vivienne Eliot in the troubled marriage. Aldington satirised her husband as "Jeremy Cibber" in ''Stepping Heavenward'' (1931). He had a relationship with writer Valentine Dobrée and a lengthy and passionate affair with Arabella Yorke, a lover since Mecklenburgh Square days, coming to an end when he went abroad.

Exile

Aldington went into self-imposed exile in 1928. He lived in Paris for years, living with Brigit Patmore and fascinated by

Nancy Cunard Nancy Clara Cunard (10 March 1896 – 17 March 1965) was a British writer, heiress and political activist. She was born into the British upper class, and devoted much of her life to fighting racism and fascism. She became a muse to some of the ...

, whom he met in 1928. Following his divorce in 1938 he married Netta, née McCullough, previously Brigit's daughter-in-law. '' Death of a Hero'' (1929), which Aldington called a "jazz novel," was his semi-autobiographical response to the war. He started writing it almost immediately after the

armistice An armistice is a formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, as it may constitute only a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace. It is derived from the ...

was declared. The novel condemned Victorian materialism as a cause of the tragedy and waste of the war. Rejectionist, an "Expressionist scream", it was commended by

as "the best war novel of the epoch". It was developed mostly while Aldington was living on the island of Port-Cros in Provence, building on the manuscript from a decade before. Opening with a letter to the playwright Halcott Glover, the book takes a satirical, cynical, and critical stance on Victorian and Edwardian cant. Published in September 1929, by Christmas it had sold more than 10,000 copies in England alone, part of a wave of war remembrances from writers such as Remarque, Sassoon, and

Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style—which he termed the iceberg theory—had a strong influence on 20th-century fi ...

. The book was quickly translated into German and other European languages. In Russia the book was taken to be a wholesale attack on bourgeois politics, "the inevitable result of the life which had preceded it", as Aldington wrote. "The next one will be much worse". It was praised by Gorky as revolutionary, and the book, along with Aldington's later fiction, received huge Russian distribution. Aldington was, however, fiercely non-partisan in his politics, despite his passion for iconoclasm and feminism.Richard Aldington (1998). ''Death of a Hero'', Dundurn Press, p. xi. The character of George Winterbourne is loosely based on Aldington as an artist (Winterbourne a painter rather than writer), having a mistress before and through the war, and the novel portrays locations strongly resembling those he had travelled to. One of these locations, fictionally named "The Chateau de Fressin," strongly resembled a castle he wrote about in a letter to H. D. ''Death of a Hero'', like many other novels published around this time about the war, suffered greatly from censorship. Instead of changing or cutting parts of his novel, he replaced objectionable words with asterisks. Although they looked awkward on the page, Aldington, among others, wanted to call attention to censoring by publishers. In 1930 Aldington published a translation of ''

The Decameron ''The Decameron'' (; it, label= Italian, Decameron or ''Decamerone'' ), subtitled ''Prince Galehaut'' (Old it, Prencipe Galeotto, links=no ) and sometimes nicknamed ''l'Umana commedia'' ("the Human comedy", as it was Boccaccio that dubbed Da ...

'' and then the romance ''All Men are Enemies'' (1933). In 1942, having relocated to the United States with his new wife Netta, he began to write biographies, starting with

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by m ...

: ''The Duke: Being an Account of the Life & Achievements of Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington'' (1943). It was followed by works on

: ''Portrait of a Genius, But ...'' (1950),

Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as '' Treasure Island'', '' Strange Case of Dr Jekyll ...

: ''Portrait of a Rebel'' (1957), and T. E. Lawrence: ''Lawrence of Arabia: A Biographical Inquiry'' (1955). Under financial pressure, he also worked as a Hollywood screenwriter. Aldington's excoriating biography of T. E. Lawrence caused a scandal on its publication in 1955. In the spirit of iconoclasm, he was the first to bring public notice to Lawrence's illegitimacy and asserted that he was a homosexual, a liar, a charlatan, an "impudent mythomaniac", a "self-important egotist", a poor writer and even a bad motorcyclist. The biography dramatically coloured popular opinion of Lawrence.''Oxford Dictionary of Biography''
profile, 2011. Foreign and War Office files concerning Lawrence's career were released during the 1960s and further biographies continued to analyse the 'British hero'. There was speculation that Aldington's spite was driven by jealousy and a sense of exclusion by the British establishment. Lawrence had attended Oxford, and his father was a baronet; Aldington suffered in the bloodbath of Europe during the First World War while Lawrence gained a heroic reputation in the Middle Eastern theatre and became an international celebrity, a homosexual icon, as Aldington saw it. Robert Graves noted in a review of the book, "instead of a carefully considered portrait of Lawrence, I find the self-portrait of a bitter, bedridden, leering, asthmatic, elderly hangman-of-letters."

Last years

Aldington lived in

Sury-en-Vaux Sury-en-Vaux () is a commune in the Cher department in the Centre-Val de Loire region of France. Geography An area of vineyards and farming comprising the village and several hamlets situated in the valley of the river Belaine, about northeast o ...

, Cher, France, from 1958. His last significant book was a biography of the Provençal poet and winner of the

Nobel Prize in Literature ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , caption = , awarded_for = Outstanding contributions in literature , presenter = Swedish Academy , holder = Annie Ernaux (2022) , location = Stockholm, Sweden , year = 1901 ...

Frédéric Mistral Joseph Étienne Frédéric Mistral (; oc, Josèp Estève Frederic Mistral, 8 September 1830 – 25 March 1914) was a French writer of Occitan literature and lexicographer of the Provençal form of the language. He received the 1904 Nobel P ...

(1956). Aldington died in

Sury Sury () is a commune in the Ardennes department in northern France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territo ...

on 27 July 1962, shortly after being honoured in Moscow on the occasion of his seventieth birthday and the publication of some of his novels in Russian translation. He was fêted in the USSR, "even if some of the fêting was probably because he had, in his writings, sometimes suggested that the England he loved could, in certain of its aspects, be less than an earthly paradise." He is buried in the local cemetery in Sury. He left one daughter, Catherine, the child of his second marriage; she died in 2010.

Legacy

On 11 November 1985 Aldington was among 16

Great War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

poets commemorated in stone at

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...

's Poet's Corner. The inscription on the stone is a quotation from the work of a fellow Great War poet,

Wilfred Owen Wilfred Edward Salter Owen MC (18 March 1893 – 4 November 1918) was an English poet and soldier. He was one of the leading poets of the First World War. His war poetry on the horrors of trenches and gas warfare was much influenced ...

. It reads: "My subject is War, and the pity of War. The Poetry is in the pity."

Style and bitterness

Alec Waugh Alexander Raban Waugh (8 July 1898 – 3 September 1981) was a British novelist, the elder brother of the better-known Evelyn Waugh, uncle of Auberon Waugh and son of Arthur Waugh, author, literary critic, and publisher. His first wife was Ba ...

described Aldington as having been embittered by the war, but took it that he worked off his spleen in novels like ''The Colonel's Daughter'' (1931) rather than letting it poison his life. Douglas Bush describes his work as "a career of disillusioned bitterness." His novels contained thinly veiled portraits of some of his friends, including Eliot, Lawrence and Pound; the friendship not always surviving. Lyndall Gordon characterises the sketch of Eliot in Aldington's memoirs ''

Life for Life's Sake ''Life For Life's Sake: A Book of Reminiscences'' is a book of memoirs written by Richard Aldington and published by the Viking Press in 1941. Chapter IX deals with the early history of Imagism Imagism was a movement in early-20th-century ...

'' (1941) as "snide." As a young man, he was cutting about Yeats, but they remained on good terms. Aldington's obituary in ''The Times'' of London in 1962 described him as "

angry young man Angry young man or angry young men may refer to: * British New Wave, or the ''Angry Young Man'' genre, a British film genre of the 1960s * Angry young men, a journalistic catchphrase applied to some British writers of the mid-1950s *'' Fenqing'', a ...

of the generation before they became fashionable ... who remained something of an angry old man to the end".

Works

*''Images (1910–1915)'' (The Poetry Bookshop, London, 1915) & (historical reproduction by Bibliobazaar ) 2009 *''Images Old and New'' (Four Seas Co., Boston, 1916) & (historical reproduction by Bibliobazaar ) 2009 *''The Poems of Anyte of Tegea'' (1916) translator *''Images of Desire'' (

Elkin Mathews Charles Elkin Mathews (1851 – 10 November 1921) was a British publisher and bookseller who played an important role in the literary life of London in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Mathews was born in Gravesend, and learned his tr ...

, 1919) & (historical reproduction by Bibliobazaar) ) 2009 *''Images of War, A Book of Poems'' (Beaumont Press, London, 1919) & (historical reproduction by Bibliobazaar) ) 2009 *''War and Love: Poems 1915–1918'' (1919) *''Greek Songs in the Manner of Anacreon'' (1919) translator *''Hymen'' (Egoist Press, 1921) with

*''Medallions in Clay'' (1921) *''The Good-Humoured Ladies: A Comedy by

Carlo Goldoni Carlo is a given name. It is an Italian form of Charles. It can refer to: *Carlo (name) *Monte Carlo *Carlingford, New South Wales, a suburb in north-west Sydney, New South Wales, Australia *A satirical song written by Dafydd Iwan about Prince Char ...

'' (1922) translator, with

Arthur Symons Arthur William Symons (28 February 186522 January 1945) was a British poet, critic and magazine editor. Life Born in Milford Haven, Wales, to Cornish parents, Symons was educated privately, spending much of his time in France and Italy. In 1884 ...

*''Exile and Other Poems'' (1923) *''Literary Studies and Reviews'' (1924) essays *''Sturly'', by Pierre Custot (1924) translator *''The Mystery of the Nativity: Translated from the Liegeois of the XVth Century'' (Medici Society, 1924) translator *''A Fool i' the Forest: A Phantasmagoria'' (1924) poem *''A Book of 'Characters' from Theophrastus, Joseph Hall, Sir Thomas Overbury, Nicolas Breton, John Earle, Thomas Fuller, and Other English Authors; Jean de La Bruyère, Vauvenargues, and Other French Authors, compiled and translated by Richard Aldington, with an introduction and notes'' (1924) *''Voltaire'' (1925) *''French Studies and Reviews'' (1926) *''The Love of Myrrhine and Konallis: and other prose poems'' (1926) *''

Cyrano De Bergerac Savinien de Cyrano de Bergerac ( , ; 6 March 1619 – 28 July 1655) was a French novelist, playwright, epistolarian, and duelist. A bold and innovative author, his work was part of the libertine literature of the first half of the 17th c ...

, Voyages to the Moon and the Sun'' (1927) *''D.H. Lawrence: An Indiscretion'' (1927) (34-page pamphlet) *''Letters of

Madame de Sévigné Madame may refer to: * Madam, civility title or form of address for women, derived from the French * Madam (prostitution), a term for a woman who is engaged in the business of procuring prostitutes, usually the manager of a brothel * ''Madame'' ...

to Her Daughter and Her Friends, selected, with an introductory essay, by Richard Aldington'' (1927) translator *''Letters of

Voltaire François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778) was a French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher. Known by his '' nom de plume'' M. de Voltaire (; also ; ), he was famous for his wit, and his criticism of Christianity—es ...

and

Frederick the Great Frederick II (german: Friedrich II.; 24 January 171217 August 1786) was King in Prussia from 1740 until 1772, and King of Prussia from 1772 until his death in 1786. His most significant accomplishments include his military successes in the S ...

'' (1927) translator *''

Candide ( , ) is a French satire written by Voltaire, a philosopher of the Age of Enlightenment, first published in 1759. The novella has been widely translated, with English versions titled ''Candide: or, All for the Best'' (1759); ''Candide: or, Th ...

and Other Romances by Voltaire'' (1928) translator with Norman Tealby *''Collected Poems'' (1928) *''Fifty Romance Lyric Poems'' (1928) translator *''Hark the Herald'' (Hours Press, 1928) *''

Remy de Gourmont Remy de Gourmont (4 April 1858 – 27 September 1915) was a French symbolist poet, novelist, and influential critic. He was widely read in his era, and an important influence on Blaise Cendrars and Georges Bataille. The spelling ''Rémy'' de G ...

: Selections From All His Works Chosen and Translated by Richard Aldington'' (1928) *''Remy de Gourmont: A Modern Man of Letters'' (1928) *''The Treason of the Intellectuals'' (La Trahison des Clercs), by

Julien Benda Julien Benda (26 December 1867 – 7 June 1956) was a French philosopher and novelist, known as an essayist and cultural critic. He is best known for his short book, ''La Trahison des Clercs'' from 1927 (''The Treason of the Intellectuals'' or ' ...

(1928) translator *'' Death of a Hero: A Novel'' (1929) *''The Eaten Heart'' (

Hours Press Nancy Clara Cunard (10 March 1896 – 17 March 1965) was a British writer, heiress and political activist. She was born into the British upper class, and devoted much of her life to fighting racism and fascism. She became a muse to some of the ...

, 1929) poems *''A Dream in the Luxembourg: A Poem'' (1930) *''

Euripides Euripides (; grc, Εὐριπίδης, Eurīpídēs, ; ) was a tragedian of classical Athens. Along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, he is one of the three ancient Greek tragedians for whom any plays have survived in full. Some ancient scholars ...

' Alcestis'' (1930) translator *''At All Costs'' (

William Heinemann William Henry Heinemann (18 May 1863 – 5 October 1920) was an English publisher of Jewish descent and the founder of the Heinemann publishing house in London. Early life On 18 May 1863, Heinemann was born in Surbiton, Surrey, England. Heine ...

, Ltd., 1930) 45-page story *''D.H. Lawrence'' (1930) (43-page pamphlet; its contents are identical to ''D.H. Lawrence: An Indiscretion'' (1927), except for the dropping of the subtitle and the addition of a one-paragraph note following the title page.) *''Last Straws'' (Hours Press, 1930) *''Medallions from Anyte of Tegea, Meleager of Gadara, the Anacreontea, Latin Poets of the Renaissance'' (1930) translator *''The Memoirs of Marmontel'' (1930) editor, with Brigit Patmore *''Roads to Glory'' (1930) stories *''Tales from the

Decameron ''The Decameron'' (; it, label=Italian, Decameron or ''Decamerone'' ), subtitled ''Prince Galehaut'' (Old it, Prencipe Galeotto, links=no ) and sometimes nicknamed ''l'Umana commedia'' ("the Human comedy", as it was Boccaccio that dubbed Dan ...

'' (1930) translator *''Two Stories'' (

, 1930): "Deserter" and "The Lads of the Village" *''Letters to the Amazon'', by

(1931) translator *''Balls and Another Book for Suppression'' (1931) (13 pages) *''The Colonel's Daughter: A Novel'' (1931) *''Stepping Heavenward: A Record'' (1931) satire aimed at

*''Aurelia by

Gérard de Nerval Gérard de Nerval (; 22 May 1808 – 26 January 1855) was the pen name of the French writer, poet, and translator Gérard Labrunie, a major figure of French romanticism, best known for his novellas and poems, especially the collection '' Les F ...

'' (1932) translator *''Soft Answers'' (1932) five short novels *''All Men Are Enemies: A Romance'' (1933) *''Last Poems of D.H. Lawrence'' (1933) edited with

Giuseppe Orioli Giuseppe "Pino" Orioli (1884–1942) was a Florentine bookseller best known for privately publishing the unexpurgated first edition of ''Lady Chatterley's Lover'' and for his long association with Norman Douglas. Giuseppe Orioli was born in 1884 ...

*''Poems of Richard Aldington'' (1934) *''Women Must Work: A Novel'' (1934) *''Artifex: Sketches and Ideas'' (1935) essays *''D.H. Lawrence: A complete list of his works, together with a critical appreciation by Richard Aldington'' (1935) (22-page pamphlet) *''The Spirit of Place'' (1935), editor, D.H. Lawrence prose anthology *''Life Quest'' (1935) poem *''Life of a Lady: A Play in Three Acts'' (1936) with

Derek Patmore Derek Coventry Patmore (1908, London1972) was a British writer. He was the great grandson of the poet Coventry Patmore. Patmore was educated at Uppingham School. He worked as a war correspondent in the Balkans and the Middle East, writing for the ...

*''The Crystal World'' (1937) *''Very Heaven'' (1937) *''Seven Against Reeves: A Comedy-Farce'' (1938) novel *''Rejected Guest'' (1939) novel *'' W. Somerset Maugham: An Appreciation'' (1939) *''

: A Book of Reminiscences'' (1941) *''Poetry of the English-Speaking World'' (1941) anthology, editor *''The Duke: Being an account of the life & achievements of

Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, (1 May 1769 – 14 September 1852) was an Anglo-Irish people, Anglo-Irish soldier and Tories (British political party), Tory statesman who was one of the leading military and political figures of Uni ...

'' (1943). Later edition: ''Wellington: Being an account of the life & achievements of Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington'' (1946). *''A Wreath for San Gemignano'' (1945) with illustrations by Netta Aldington and sonnets of Folgóre da San Gimignano titled ''The Garland of Months'' and translated by Richard Aldington *''Great French Romances'' (1946) novels by

Madame de La Fayette Marie-Madeleine Pioche de La Vergne, Comtesse de La Fayette (baptized 18 March 1634 – 25 May 1693), better known as Madame de La Fayette, was a French writer; she authored '' La Princesse de Clèves'', France's first historical novel and one ...

Choderlos De Laclos Pierre Ambroise François Choderlos de Laclos (; 18 October 1741 – 5 September 1803) was a French novelist, official, Freemason and army general, best known for writing the epistolary novel ''Les Liaisons dangereuses'' (''Dangerous Liaisons'') ...

Abbé Prévost Antoine François Prévost d'Exiles ( , , ; 1 April 169725 November 1763), usually known simply as the Abbé Prévost, was a French priest, author, and novelist. Life and works He was born at Hesdin, Artois, and first appears with the full nam ...

Honoré de Balzac Honoré de Balzac ( , more commonly , ; born Honoré Balzac;Jean-Louis Dega, La vie prodigieuse de Bernard-François Balssa, père d'Honoré de Balzac : Aux sources historiques de La Comédie humaine, Rodez, Subervie, 1998, 665 p. 20 May 179 ...

*''

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...

: Selected Works'' (1946) editor *''The Romance of

Casanova Giacomo Girolamo Casanova (, ; 2 April 1725 – 4 June 1798) was an Italian adventurer and author from the Republic of Venice. His autobiography, (''Story of My Life''), is regarded as one of the most authentic sources of information about the c ...

: A Novel'' (1946) *''Complete Poems'' (1948) *''Four English Portraits, 1801–1851'' (1948) (The four are the Prince Regent, the young

Disraeli Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, (21 December 1804 – 19 April 1881) was a British statesman and Conservative politician who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He played a central role in the creation o ...

, Charles "Squire" Waterton, and the young

Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian er ...

.) *''Selected Works of

Walter Pater Walter Horatio Pater (4 August 1839 – 30 July 1894) was an English essayist, art critic and literary critic, and fiction writer, regarded as one of the great stylists. His first and most often reprinted book, ''Studies in the History of the Re ...

'' (1948) *'' Jane Austen'' (1948) *''

Giovanni Boccaccio Giovanni Boccaccio (, , ; 16 June 1313 – 21 December 1375) was an Italian writer, poet, correspondent of Petrarch, and an important Renaissance humanist. Born in the town of Certaldo, he became so well known as a writer that he was som ...

'' (two volumes) (1949) translator *''The Strange Life of Charles Waterton, 1782–1865'' (1949) *''A Bibliography of the Works of Richard Aldington from 1915 to 1948'' (1950) with Alister Kershaw *''Selected Letters of D.H. Lawrence'' (1950) editor *''The Indispensable

'' (1950) editor *''Portrait of a Genius, But . . . (The Life of D.H. Lawrence, 1885–1930)'' (1950) *''D.H. Lawrence: An Appreciation'' (1950) (32-page pamphlet, which borrows from the 1927, 1930, and 1935 pamphlets on Lawrence listed above) *''The Religion of Beauty: Selections from the Aesthetes'' (1950) anthology, editor *''

and

: A Lecture'' (Peacocks Press, 1954) (22 pages) *''Lawrence L'imposteur: T. E. Lawrence, the legend and the man'' (1954) Paris edition; also published as ''Lawrence of Arabia: A Biographical Enquiry'' (1955) *''Pinorman: Personal Recollections of Norman Douglas, Pino Orioli and Charles Prentice'' (1954) *'' A. E. Housman and W. B. Yeats: Two Lectures'' (Hurst Press, 1955) *''Introduction to Mistral'' (1956) (biography of French poet

) *''Frauds'' (1957) *''Portrait of a Rebel: The Life and Work of

'' (1957) *''The Viking Book of Poetry of the English-Speaking World, Volume II'' (1958) editor *"The ''Composite Biography'' as Biography," in Moore, Harry T., ed., ''A D.H. Lawrence Miscellany'', Southern Illinois University Press (1959) and William Heinemann Ltd (1961), pp. 143-152. " hisessay serves as the Introduction of Vol. 3 of Edward Nehls's ''D.H. Lawrence: A Composite Biography'', copyright, 1959, by the University of Wisconsin Press...," p. 143 n. *''Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology'' (1960) translator with Delano Ames *''Switzerland'' (1960) *''Famous Cities of the World: Rome'' (1960) *''A Tourist's Rome'' (1961) *''Richard Aldington: Selected Critical Writing, 1928–1960'' (1970) edited by Alister Kershaw *''A Passionate Prodigality: Letters to Alan Bird from Richard Aldington, 1949–1962'' (1975) edited by Miriam J. Benkovitz *''Literary Lifelines: The Richard Aldington and

Correspondence'' (1981) *''In Winter: A Poem'' (Typographeum Press, 1987) *''Austria/L'Autriche/Österreich: A Book of Photographs'', with an introduction by Richard Aldington. London: Anglo-Italian Publication, 950-1960?*''France/La France/Frankreich: A Book of Photographs'', with an introduction by Richard Aldington. London: Anglo-Italian Publications, 950-1965?*''Italy/L'Italie/Italien: A Book of Photographs'', with an introduction by Richard Aldington. London: Anglo-Italian Publications, 958?re
Library of Congress catalog listing
/ref>

References

External links

Richard Aldington Papers, 1910–1962
at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Special Collections Research Center
Richard Aldington profile and poems at Poets.org
* * * * * Richard Aldington collection, Beinecke Rare Books and Manuscript library, Yale University. {{DEFAULTSORT:Aldington, Richard 1892 births 1962 deaths Alumni of the University of London British Army personnel of World War I English World War I poets 20th-century English male writers 20th-century English poets Imagists People educated at Dover College Writers from Portsmouth Royal Sussex Regiment officers Translators to English James Tait Black Memorial Prize recipients 20th-century translators English male poets English male novelists 20th-century English novelists Royal Leicestershire Regiment soldiers Military personnel from Portsmouth People from Ardennes (department)