Robert Graves

Born in 1895, he became one of the major English writers of the twentieth century. He served in World War I, and that experience shaped some of his best-known early writing, including Good-Bye to All That, a memoir remembered for its clear, unsentimental view of war and its aftermath.

He was also a remarkably versatile author. Alongside his poetry, he wrote historical novels such as I, Claudius and Claudius the God, which helped bring the ancient world vividly to modern readers. His writing often returned to myth, classical literature, and the nature of inspiration, interests that also fed into his criticism and essays.

Later in life he was closely associated with Deià, on the Spanish island of Mallorca, where he lived for many years. He died in 1985, leaving behind a body of work that moves easily between history, legend, autobiography, and lyric poetry.