Commanding ... To encounter [Graves] in these pages is to feel something of the relentlessly explosive energy with which he lived the first half of his life. Wilson lands him like a Zeppelin bomb.” —Observer
“Jean Moorcroft Wilson has built an unassailable reputation as our leading authority on the poets of the Great War ... Combining intelligent and perceptive criticism of his work, with revealing insights into the man, this study of the devastating impact of the conflict on Graves makes for compelling reading. I cannot recommend it too highly” —Nigel Jones, author of Rupert Brooke: Life, Death & Myth
“Diligent and insightful ... Jean Moorcroft Wilson teases the truth from Graves's exaggerations, mis-rememberings and downright gibs ... She is by turns compassionate and caustic and is clear sighted … [Her] close reading of the war poems is illuminating.” —The Times
“Wilson unveils the poet behind the man struggling to make, not write, poetry [and] clarifies our understanding of what Graves was about” —Literary Review
“Consistently illuminating” —Andrew Motion, Spectator
“A sensitive rendering of the poet's formative years ... finely nuanced” —Kirkus Reviews
“A fine attempt to give Graves his due in the context of the Great War” —Evening Standard
“This is an exemplary biography and a terrific entertainment … Wilson brings this difficult, unlovable but strangely impressive man yelpingly to life” —Sunday Times
“Deft and commanding ... On a par with her other outstanding biographies” —BBC History Magazine
“25 years after the last biography, a fresh approach … Measured and dispassionate … This is biography at its best” —Country Life
“A sensitive rendering of the poet's formative years … A sympathetic perspective on Graves' eventful life.” —Kirkus Reviews
“A well-researched, readable biography” —Library Journal
2018-07-30
A sensitive rendering of the poet's formative years.
As Wilson (Edward Thomas: From Adlestrop to Arras: A Biography, 2015, etc.) acknowledges, Graves (1895-1985) has been the subject of several well-regarded biographies. She justifies her new examination of his youth, war experiences, and early career on the basis of material recently available, including published letters to a fellow soldier, eight unpublished letters to one of his sisters, and his lover Laura Riding's autobiographical writings. Despite these sources, however, this biography offers a familiar, if finely nuanced, portrait of Graves, his family, and his scandalous relationship with the mercurial Riding. The author sees World War I as "the defining experience of his life," praising his war poems as "unsurpassed in their variety, ranging from the brutally realistic and harrowing to the allegorical," marked by "technical brilliance." Although Graves destroyed most of those poems—deeming them "journalistic"—Wilson claims that they are "among the best to come out of that war." But the poet's youthful "adherence to the traditional forms and metres, together with his belief in rhyme," may have contributed to his later assessment on aesthetic grounds. Graves' service was typical for upper-class young men who enlisted: They were eager for the adventure and soon shocked at the reality. Battle experiences, the deaths of many friends, and a severe wounding left him suffering fears and terrors for years afterward. Wilson examines Graves' platonic male attractions and his relief—proving to himself that he was solidly heterosexual—when he decided to marry. Children quickly followed, and the "relatively spoilt," naïve, and impractical couple found themselves repeatedly in financial straits, turning to their parents for help. Graves' life was upended by Riding, who thrived in "a world of violent emotions." The author vividly recounts the chaos, "near hysteria," and "bizarre and dramatic events" that she created and Graves' willing complicity. He eventually left his wife and children to live with Laura until, 10 years later, she left him.
A sympathetic perspective on Graves' eventful life.