Aldington, Richard (1892-1962), a British novelist and poet, was a prominent member of the Imagist movement, which flourished between 1910 and 1918. The aim of this movement was to break away from the vagueness of current romantic poetry and use everyday language and new rhythms to create clear and vivid images of emotions or experience. Other Imagists included the English poet and novelist D. H. Lawrence and the American poets Ezra Pound and Hilda Doolittle. Aldington married Doolittle in 1913. They were divorced in 1938.
After serving in France in World War I (1914-1918), Aldington wrote the novel Death of a Hero (1929), which reflected the disillusionment of the generation that fought in the war. He wrote a sequel, All Men Are Enemies (1933), and another novel, The Colonel’s Daughter (1931). He also wrote several volumes of stories and biographies of the French writer Voltaire, the British soldier and statesman the Duke of Wellington, the British soldier and writer T. E. Lawrence, and D. H. Lawrence. He translated French and Italian poetry as well as classical Greek and Latin poets. Aldington also wrote the autobiographical Life for Life’s Sake (1941). Aldington’s Complete Poems was published in 1949.
Edward Godfree Aldington was born on July 8, 1892, near Portsmouth, Hampshire. As a writer, Aldington adopted the pen name of Richard. He was educated at Dover College and London University. Aldington was literary editor of The Egoist, an influential periodical dedicated to Imagist poetry and experimental writing that was published from 1914 to 1919. He died on July 27, 1962.
