Robert Graves in general

Often considered among the finest of the trench poets in the First World War, Robert von Ranke Graves, unlike some of his equally famous contemporaries and close friends such as Wilfred Owen, survived his ordeals in the conflict and lived a long and prolific life as a prominent writer. Publishing some 120 books in his career, Graves is most commonly associated with his anti-war poetry and his later novel ?I, Claudius,? the historically fictional account of the life of Emperor Claudius in Ancient Rome. My personal experience of Robert Graves extends only to his war poetry and ...  Read the complete review

Robert Graves was an amazingly prolific twentieth centruy writer. English in origin, he spent much of his life in Spain. I'm a long way short of having read all of his work, but can at least give you something of a flavour. Graves was a poet, a novelist and a scholar, with varying degrees of success. The Novels: On the novels front, Graves is probably best known for his 'Claudius' novels - 'I Claudius' and 'Claudius the God' dealing with ancient Rome and the eponymous emperor Claudius. These are excellent pieces of work that really bring to life a section of Roman history. Fans of this historical writing would do well to look out ...  Read the complete review

After reading a book written by Robert Graves' son on the subject of Robert Graves' life and escapades in Mallorca, I became interested in Robert and his literatory works so therefore, I started with reading "Goodbye to All That. Robert Graves published his autobiography, in 1929 when he was 33 years old. It begins with his public school education at Charterhouse (where he was bullied) and goes on to tell of his Army service in the First World War – Graves enlisted in the British Army and was commissioned to the Royal Welsh Fusiliers within a few days of WWI being declared. The majority of the book is based upon his war experiences, ...  Read the complete review

These have got to be two of the all time classics. Now I am not really a great lover of large historical works, but when presented with these books many years ago I became spell-bound by them. Robert Graves had a unique style of writing, but then Mr Graves was, himself, a very unusually gifted man. As you read through the pages they come alive. It is as though Claudius is actually speaking to you. Here then is the life-story of the emperor Claudius I, grandson of the great Mark Antony, lover of Cleopatra. His mother had married the son of the emperor Augustus. Born a cripple with a limp, a stammer and a bad twitch to his ...  Read the complete review