Robert Graves.

On 24 July 1895, Robert von Ranke Graves was born in Wimbledon, London, to Alfred Perceval Graves, a writer, and Amalie von Ranke, a descendant of historian Leopold von Ranke. He attended Copthorne Preparatory School and Hillbrow School before entering Charterhouse School, where he began writing poetry. His early verse was shaped by his family’s literary background.

Graves left Charterhouse in 1913 and enlisted in the British army after the outbreak of World War I in 1914. He quickly rose to the rank of officer and was posted to the western front, where he continued to write even as he faced the horrors of trench warfare.

While still an officer on the western front, Graves published three volumes of poetry in 1916 and 1917. His war experiences produced the autobiography Goodbye to All That in 1919. In 1929 he moved to Majorca, Spain, with American poet Laura Riding, beginning a period of intense literary production.

Graves’s breakthrough as a novelist came in 1934 with I, Claudius, a fictional autobiography of the Roman emperor. That same year he published its sequel, Claudius the God. He followed with historical novels including Count Belisarius 1936 and The Golden Fleece also known as Hercules, My Shipmate, 1944. Research for that novel sparked his interest in mythology, resulting in the controversial The White Goddess 1948, a poetic mythography.

In 1961 he was elected Professor of Poetry at Oxford University, a post he held until 1966. He continued publishing poetry and translations, including The Rubiyat of Omar Khayyam in 1967. He also made a cameo appearance in the 1968 film Deadfall.

Graves married Annie Mary Pryde Nicholson on 23 January 1918, and they had four children: Jenny, David, Catherine, and Samuel. The marriage ended in divorce in 1929, partly due to the strain of Graves’s war-related mental health issues. That same year, he moved to Majorca with American poet Laura Riding, with whom he lived for nearly fifteen years.

After separating from Riding, Graves married Beryl Antoinette Pritchard on 11 May 1950. They had four more children: Lucia, Tomás, William, and Juan. He remained with Beryl until his death in 1985. His daughter Lucia Graves became a translator and writer.

Graves’s influence reaches beyond literature. His book The White Goddess influenced poets Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath. Fantasy writer Lloyd Alexander drew names for The Chronicles of Prydain from Graves’s work. His historical novel I, Claudius has been adapted into a BBC television series and remains a staple of historical fiction.

Honours include the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, the King’s Gold Medal for Poetry, and the Hawthornden Prize. He was elected Professor of Poetry at Oxford University 1961-1966. He declined a CBE in 1957 and the Companion of Honour in 1984. Graves’s legacy rests on I, Claudius and his poetic and mythographic work.