Robert Graves

Introduction

Robert Graves

Robert Graves could write about anything. While many of his most successful works deal with eras long past, Graves also wrote about his contemporary experiences. His war memoir, Good-Bye to All That, is considered one of the seminal accounts of World War I. Yet his historical masterpiece I, Claudius gained him the greatest success and acclaim—though not without criticism. Some scholars have suggested that the book is, if not outright erroneous, highly selective in its accounts. Graves narrates from the perspective of Claudius himself, but some have accused Graves of omitting historical details that were inconvenient to his plotting. Nevertheless, in I, Claudius, as with his other works like The Golden Fleece, Graves distinguishes himself by his ability to transform history into genuine drama.

Essential Facts

1. Graves enlisted in the military during the First World War, and many of his early poems are reflections of his harrowing experiences in battle.
2. Graves was so badly injured at the Battle of the Somme that he was initially pronounced dead.
3. Graves became close friends with Siegfried Sasson, a poet whom he met during his military service. The intimacy of their friendship have led some to speculate whether or not there was a sexual component to the relationship.
4. Graves also wrote about writing. His critical work A Survey of Modernist Poetry is still studied today.
5. Graves wrote a sequel to I, Claudius called Claudius the God.