Richard Aldington

Born in Portsmouth, England, in 1892, Richard Aldington became an important early figure in the Imagist movement, working alongside writers including H.D. and Ezra Pound. He wrote poetry, fiction, criticism, and biography, and built a reputation for clear, concentrated language.

His experience serving in World War I deeply shaped his writing. That impact can be felt most strongly in Death of a Hero (1929), the novel most often associated with his name, which explores the damage war does to both individuals and the society around them.

Aldington continued to write widely in the decades that followed, producing novels, translations, and literary studies. He died in 1962, leaving behind a body of work that connects literary modernism with some of the harshest truths of the twentieth century.