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

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

movement. His 50-year writing career covered poetry, novels, criticism and biography. He edited '' The Egoist'', 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'', and ''

Poetry Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...

''. His biography, ''Wellington'' (1946), won 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, Un ...

. Aldington was married to the poet Hilda Doolittle, known by her initials H.D., from 1913 to 1938. His acquaintances included writers T. S. Eliot, D. H. Lawrence,

Ezra Pound Ezra Weston Loomis Pound (30 October 1885 – 1 November 1972) was an List of poets from the United States, American poet and critic, a major figure in the early modernist poetry movement, and a Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Ita ...

W. B. Yeats William Butler Yeats (, 13 June 186528 January 1939), popularly known as W. B. Yeats, was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer, and literary critic who was one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the ...

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 pa ...

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

Early life and education

Edward Godfree (known from an early age as "Richard") Aldington was born in

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

, the eldest of four children of Albert Edward Aldington (1864–1921) and Jessie May (1872–1954), née Godfree. His father failed to establish himself as a solicitor, going into business as a bookseller and stationer on Portsmouth High Street, later a solicitor's clerk and amateur author; his mother was a novelist (as "Mrs A. E. Aldington") and keeper of the Mermaid Inn at Rye. 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, followed by the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

.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), popularly known as W. B. Yeats, was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer, and literary critic who was one of the foremost figures of 20th century in literature, 20th-century literature. He was ...

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 his psychological horror short fi ...

.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 H.D., 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 Kensington is an area of London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, around west of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up by Kensingt ...

, 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, short for "South of Houston Street, Houston Street", is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Since the 1970s, the neighborhood has been the location of many artists' lofts and art galleries, art installations such as The Wall ...

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

Career

Aldington's poetry was associated with the

group, championing minimalist free verse with stark images, seeking to banish Victorian moralism. The group was key in the emerging Modernist movement. Ezra Pound 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 Thomas Ernest Hulme (; 16 September 1883 – 28 September 1917) was an English critic and poet who, through his writings on art, literature and politics, had a notable influence upon modernism. He was an aesthetic philosopher and the Imagism ...

's conviction that experimentation with traditional Japanese verse forms could provide a way forward for

avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...

literature in English. Pound sent three of Aldington's poems to Harriet Monroe'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. relocated from their home in

Holland Park Holland Park is an area of Kensington, on the western edge of Central London, that lies within the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and largely surrounds its namesake park, Holland Park. Colloquially referred to as 'Millionaire's Row', ...

near Ezra Pound to

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, England, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, located mainly in the London Borough of Camden, with a small part in the London Borough of Barnet. It borders Highgate and Golders Green to the north, Belsiz ...

close to D. H. Lawrence 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 (British magazine), Blast'', the literary magazine of the Vorticists. His ...

well and reviewed his work in '' The Egoist''. 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 (1924), The Transatlant ...

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

The Good Soldier ''The Good Soldier: A Tale of Passion'' is a 1915 novel by the British writer Ford Madox Ford. It is set just before World War I, and chronicles the tragedy of Edward Ashburnham and his seemingly perfect marriage, along with that of his two A ...

''.

World War I 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 was then sent to a camp near

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

. 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), ...

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 had 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 infraorder Phthiraptera, which contains nearly 5,000 species of wingless parasitic insects. Phthiraptera was previously recognized as an order, until a 2021 genetic study determined th ...

, 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 torturous life of the soldiers on the front and could not imagine the living conditions. In November 1917, Aldington joined up in the 11th Leicestershires and was later commissioned as a second lieutenant 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 Foo ...

. He finished the war as a signals officer and temporary captain, being demobilised in February 1919. He likely never fully recovered from the trauma of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, writing of his field experiences in the collections ''Images of War'' and ''Images of Desire'' (1919), which were suffused with a new melancholy. By the end of World War I, he was 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 T. S. Eliot 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, ''Painted Shadow'' (2001), p. 173. Aldington was on the editorial board of Chaman Lall's London literary quarterly ''Coterie'' (published 1919–1921), accompanied by Conrad Aiken, Eliot, Lewis and

Aldous Huxley Aldous Leonard Huxley ( ; 26 July 1894 – 22 November 1963) was an English writer and philosopher. His bibliography spans nearly 50 books, including non-fiction novel, non-fiction works, as well as essays, narratives, and poems. Born into the ...

. Eliot had a job in the international department of

Lloyds Bank Lloyds Bank plc is a major British retail banking, retail and commercial bank with a significant presence across England and Wales. It has traditionally been regarded one of the "Big Four (banking)#England and Wales, Big Four" clearing house ...

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 (née Cavendish-Bentinck; 16 June 1873 – 21 April 1938) was an English Aristocracy (class), aristocrat and society hostess. Her patronage was influential in artistic and intellectual circles, where she befri ...

Leonard Woolf Leonard Sidney Woolf (; – ) was a British List of political theorists, political theorist, author, publisher, and civil servant. He was married to author Virginia Woolf. As a member of the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party and the Fabian Socie ...

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 English-language poems of the 20th century and a central work of modernist poetry. Published in 1922, the 434-line poem first appeared in the United ...

'', Aldington wrote ''A Fool i' the Forest'' (1924). 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. Aldington helped Irene Rathbone publish her semi-autobiographical novel ''We That Were Young'' in 1932. They had an affair that ended in 1937. Rathbone dedicated her 1936 novel ''They Call it Peace'' to him, and she wrote a long poem, ''Was There a Summer?: A Narrative Poem'', in 1943 about their relationship.

Exile

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

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. Known for an economical, understated style that influenced later 20th-century writers, he has been romanticized f ...

. 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'' (; or ''Decamerone'' ), subtitled ''Prince Galehaut'' (Old ) and sometimes nicknamed ''l'Umana commedia'' ("the Human Comedy (drama), comedy", as it was Boccaccio that dubbed Dante Alighieri's ''Divine Comedy, Comedy'' "''D ...

'' 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 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 third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

: ''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 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'.

Robert Graves Captain Robert von Ranke Graves (24 July 1895 – 7 December 1985) was an English poet, soldier, historical novelist and critic. His father was Alfred Perceval Graves, a celebrated Irish poet and figure in the Gaelic revival; they were b ...

, a friend of Lawrence, wrote that "instead of a carefully considered portrait of Lawrence, I find the self-portrait of a bitter, bedridden, leering, asthmatic, elderly hangman-of-letters." Robert Irwin, in the London Review of Books, speculated 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 had suffered in the bloodbath of Europe during the First World War while Lawrence had gained a heroic reputation in the Middle Eastern theatre and became an international celebrity and homosexual icon. Irwin observes that he "was industrious and his portrait of Lawrence was fuelled by careful research". Christopher Sykes, in his 1969 introduction to the Collins edition (reprinted in Pelican Biographies in 1971), stated that "for the first time, the awkward questions were faced squarely"; Sykes's final assessment of Aldington's book is that it "cleared the ground of rubbish, efficiently and thoroughly". Aldington lived in Sury-en-Vaux, Cher, France, from 1958. His last significant book was a biography of the Provençal poet and winner of the

Nobel Prize in Literature The Nobel Prize in Literature, here meaning ''for'' Literature (), is a Swedish literature prize that is awarded annually, since 1901, to an author from any country who has, in the words of the will of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, "in ...

Frédéric Mistral Joseph Étienne Frédéric Mistral (; , 8 September 1830 – 25 March 1914) was an Occitan writer and lexicographer of the Provençal form of the language. He received the 1904 Nobel Prize in Literature "in recognition of the fresh origina ...

(1956).

Death

Aldington died in Sury on 27 July 1962, shortly after being honoured in Moscow on the occasion of his 70th birthday and the translation of some of his novels to Russian. He was honored in the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, "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." Aldington is buried in the local cemetery in Sury. He was survived by a daughter, Catherine, the child of his second marriage, who died in 2010.

Legacy

On 11 November 1985 Aldington was among 16

Great War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

poets commemorated in stone at

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an Anglican church in the City of Westminster, London, England. Since 1066, it has been the location of the coronations of 40 English and British m ...

's Poet's Corner. The inscription on the stone was taken from

Wilfred Owen Wilfred Edward Salter Owen Military Cross, 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 Trench warfare, trenches and Chemi ...

's "Preface" to his poems and reads: "My subject is War, and the pity of War. The Poetry is in the pity."

Style and bitterness

Alec Waugh 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 Lyndall Gordon (born 4 November 1941) is a British-based biographical and former academic writer, known for her literary biographies. She is a senior research fellow at St Hilda's College, Oxford. Life Born in Cape Town, she had her undergradua ...

characterises the sketch of Eliot in Aldington's memoirs '' Life for Life's Sake'' (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 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 *'' The Little Demon'', by Feodor Sologub
authorised translation by John Cournos and Richard Aldington
(London: Martin Secker, 1916). *''Images of Desire'' ( Elkin Mathews, 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 H.D. *''Medallions in Clay'' (1921) *''The Good-Humoured Ladies: A Comedy by

Carlo Goldoni Carlo Osvaldo Goldoni (, also , ; 25 February 1707 – 6 February 1793) was an Italian playwright and librettist from the Republic of Venice. His works include some of Italy's most famous and best-loved plays. Audiences have admired the plays ...

'' (1922) translator, with Arthur Symons *''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 François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778), known by his ''Pen name, nom de plume'' Voltaire (, ; ), was a French Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment writer, philosopher (''philosophe''), satirist, and historian. Famous for his wit ...

'' (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 ce ...

, Voyages to the Moon and the Sun'' (1927) translator *''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) Procuring, pimping, or pandering is the facilitation or provision of a prostitute or other sex worker in the arrangement ...

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

and

Frederick the Great Frederick II (; 24 January 171217 August 1786) was the monarch of Prussia from 1740 until his death in 1786. He was the last Hohenzollern monarch titled ''King in Prussia'', declaring himself ''King of Prussia'' after annexing Royal Prussia ...

'' (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, The ...

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 Go ...

: 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 (1928) translator *'' Death of a Hero: A Novel'' (1929) *''The Eaten Heart'' ( Hours Press, 1929) poems *''A Dream in the Luxembourg: A Poem'' (1930) *''

Euripides Euripides () was a Greek tragedy, 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 attributed ninety-five plays to ...

' Alcestis'' (1930) translator *''At All Costs'' ( William Heinemann, 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 *''The Decameron of Giovanni Bocaccio''
translated by Richard Aldington
illustrations by Jean de Bosschère (1930) *''Two Stories'' ( Elkin Mathews, 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 T. S. Eliot *''Aurelia by

Gérard de Nerval Gérard de Nerval (; 22 May 1808 – 26 January 1855), the pen name of the French writer, poet, and translator Gérard Labrunie, was a French essayist, poet, translator, and travel writer. He was a major figure during the era of French romantici ...

'' (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 *''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 *''The Crystal World'' (1937) *''Very Heaven'' (1937) *''Seven Against Reeves: A Comedy-Farce'' (1938) novel *''Rejected Guest'' (1939) novel *''

W. Somerset Maugham William Somerset Maugham ( ; 25 January 1874 – 16 December 1965) was an English writer, known for his plays, novels and short stories. Born in Paris, where he spent his first ten years, Maugham was schooled in England and went to a German un ...

: An Appreciation'' (1939) *'' Life for Life's Sake: 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 Field marshal (United Kingdom), Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington (; 1 May 1769 – 14 September 1852) was a British Army officer and statesman who was one of the leading military and political figures in Britain during t ...

'' (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, Choderlos De Laclos, Abbé Prévost,

Honoré de Balzac Honoré de Balzac ( , more commonly ; ; born Honoré Balzac; 20 May 1799 – 18 August 1850) was a French novelist and playwright. The novel sequence ''La Comédie humaine'', which presents a panorama of post-Napoleonic French life, is ...

*''

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish author, poet, and playwright. After writing in different literary styles throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular and influential playwright ...

: Selected Works, with Twelve Unpublished Letters'' (1946) editor * "Introduction" to ''The Portable Oscar Wilde'' (1946) Selected and edited by Richard Aldington *''The Romance of Casanova: A Novel'' (1946) *''Complete Poems'' (1948) *''Four English Portraits, 1801–1851'' (1948) (The four are

the Prince Regent George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 29 January 1820 until his death in 1830. At the time of his accession to the throne, h ...

, the young Disraeli, Charles "Squire" Waterton, and the young

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

.) *''Selected Works of

Walter Pater Walter Horatio Pater (4 August 1839 – 30 July 1894) was an English essayist, Art critic, art 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 t ...

'' (1948) *''

Jane Austen Jane Austen ( ; 16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist known primarily for #List of works, her six novels, which implicitly interpret, critique, and comment on the English landed gentry at the end of the 18th century ...

'' (1948) *''The Decameron of Giovanni Bocaccio''; translated by Richard Aldington; illustrated by Rockwell Kent (two volumes) (1949) *''The Strange Life of

Charles Waterton Charles Waterton (3 June 1782 – 27 May 1865) was an English naturalist, plantation overseer and explorer best known for his pioneering work regarding conservation. Family and religion Waterton was of a Roman Catholic landed gentry family de ...

, 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 T. S. Eliot: 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)
Charles Prentice (1891-1949) was a publisher
*''

A. E. Housman Alfred Edward Housman (; 26 March 1859 – 30 April 1936) was an English classics, classical scholar and poet. He showed early promise as a student at the University of Oxford, but he failed his final examination in ''literae humaniores'' and t ...

and

: 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. "

his His or HIS may refer to: Computing * Hightech Information System, a Hong Kong graphics card company * Honeywell Information Systems * Hybrid intelligent system * Microsoft Host Integration Server Education * Hangzhou International School, ...

essay 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. Contains chapters on ten writers:

, Somerset Maugham,

, Roy Campbell,

, and D. H. Lawrence. *''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 English translators English male poets English male novelists 20th-century English novelists Royal Leicestershire Regiment soldiers Military personnel from Portsmouth People from Ardennes (department) Translators of Gérard de Nerval