Richard Aldington was an English writer and poet, best known for his World War I poetry, and the book, Death of a Hero.

Aldington was born on July 8 1892 in Portsmouth, and educated at Dover College and the University of London. He met the poet H.D in 1911 and they married two years later. Between 1914 and 1916 he was editor of The Egoist. He served on the Western Front in 1916-18, and never completely recovered from the experience. His poetry belongs to the Imagist school and he was heavily influenced by T.E. Hulme, who had been killed on active service in 1917. His marriage to H.D. ended in 1927.

Death of a Hero, published in 1929 was his literary response to the war. He went on to publish several works of fiction. In 1942, having moved to the United States with his new wife Netta Patmore, he began to write biographies, the first being that of Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington. It was followed by works on D. H. Lawrence, Robert Louis Stevenson and T. E. Lawrence. This last was very controversial, as it was highly critical of the man still regarded as a war hero.

Aldington died in France in 1962.

External Links

References

  • Richard Aldington, a Biography by Charles Doyle ISBN 0809315661