1895 - 1985

Robert’s Life

This section provides a summary of the main events in of Roberts troubled life which gave rise to both the poetry and prose. were many. Robert wrote his memoirs in his highly successful “Goodbye to All That”, at the age of 34 at a particularly critical juncture in his life. Although entitle “an Auto biography” his full life is not reflected: it covers little more than a third of his life: he died at the age of 90. Several full biographies have been written: Below is a link to these; to studies of his poetry and writings; and to a short academic summary of Robert by Dr Ian Firla.

Family Tree

Robert's ancestry is traced back to the mid-late 18th Century.

Early Childhood

1895 - 1909

Robert Graves —his full name was Robert von Ranke Graves— was born in Wimbledon, London, on July.

Schooling

1909 - 1914

Robert attended various preparatory schools, and from the last of these, Copthorne, he won a scholarship…

War

1914 - 1918

Robert Graves had just left Charterhouse and joined his family in Wales, when England declared war on Germany.

Oxford

1918 - 1926

Robert met seventeen-year-old Nancy Nicholson, in May 1916 when on leave. She was the daughter of the painters William and Mabel Nicholson…

The Arrival of Laura Riding

1926 - 1927

Despite the fact that he was well connected with the literary establishment of the time, both in London...

St. Peter's Square

1927 - 1929

Robert’s Lawrence and the Arabs was an immediate success and his Poems 1914-26 was also very well received. In May 1927 he and Laura took a house....

Arrival in Deia

1929 - 1936

When Graves and Riding left England in October 1929, they visited their friend Gertrude Stein in France...

Exile

1936 - 1940

On August 2nd 1935, after two weeks of uncertainly about the seriousness of the Franco uprising, the...

Galmpton

1940 - 1946

Back in England after the break-up with Laura, Graves was close to a nervous breakdown. But then Beryl...

Return to Deia

1946 - 1954

In May 1946, after having obtained visas to travel to Spain, Graves took his new family to Majorca. The...

International Recognition

1954 - 1970

The White Goddess had provided Graves with a coherent framework for his particular views on poetry and...

Last Years

1970 - 1985

Graves refused most honours and Honoris Causa doctorates, but he did accept the Gold Medal for Poetry...