A new influence on Graves' life emerged in 1926 - a year before his marriage finally ended - when Robert met the human whirlwind that was Laura Riding. Attacked by some, praised by others - highlights of Riding's full-throttle life include jumping from a third floor balcony and driving a wife to madness so Laura could consummate an attraction for the husband - Riding's aggressive, ambitious and vaguely fantastic nature affected Graves both personally and creatively. Literary critics claim that Riding caused Graves to focus his poems, cutting out waffle and tangential material while highlighting irony, transforming him over the next few decades into one of Britain's leading romantic poets. Meanwhile, the events of 1914-18 were brought to closure by Robert's book Goodbye To All That, an account of his experience in World War One. This proved hugely important to the literature of warfare and enormously healing for Graves himself.
Shortly after the publication of Goodbye To All That, Graves and Riding moved to Majorca where they wrote numerous works, both in collaboration and alone, until the Spanish Civil War caused them to travel to American in 1936; three years later, Riding left Graves. Together, they had founded Seizin Press and co-authored several key pieces of poetical critique, including the important 'A Survey of Modernist Poetry' (an intriguing text which managed to be the first in identifying the modernist movement whilst also being the first to criticise it!) Individually, Graves refined his poetical style and wrote several of the books which made him a household name, the most famous being I, Claudius; others from his career include Claudius the God, Count Belisarius, Wife to Mr. Milton, Seven Days in Crete, and The Golden Fleece (sometimes called Hercules, My Shipmate).
The White Goddess
Now alone, Graves returned to Britain in 1939; he married Beryl Hodge shortly after, with whom Robert had another four children. The outbreak of World War II led to Graves writing war poetry for a new conflict, one that also killed his son David, and when Europe was at peace Graves moved his new family to Majorca. The remaining decades of Robert Graves life were dominated by theories first published in his The White Goddess of 1948, a highly controversial and wide-ranging book which looked at classical mythology and poetry, examining the existence of a religion focused around a highly inspiring goddess. Critics have found both implicit and explicit references to the White Goddess in many of Graves works, while Robert's personal life remained highly troubled, for he was obsessed with a series of 'muses' whom he considered to be manifestations of the White Goddess. The extent to which Graves really believed in his goddess, and the effect it had on his life and work, is a focal point of modern study.
Growing Fame
Goddesses aside, Graves' reputation grew as he produced more novels, poetical critique, classical studies, religious texts and original poetry; he also made frequent revisions to his earlier poetry. Notable volumes include The Greek Myths, a two volume dictionary; The Hebrew Myths and The Nazarene Gospel Restored. He also translated famous literature, his most popular - and most controversial - being The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyàm (with Omar Ali-Shah) and The Golden Ass. In 1961 Oxford University elected Graves as Professor of Poetry, in 1962 W. H. Auden described him as England's "greatest living poet" and six years later the Queen of England awarded Robert a Gold Medal for Poetry. Needless to say, Graves was now an internationally renowned and highly inspirational figure.
Death and Importance
Although Graves continued to work he became affected by a disease of the brain, fading into a quiet senility; he died in 1985 at 90. Often cited as a war-poet of the 1914-1918 conflict, or as the author of I, Claudius, Robert Graves actually published over 140 works in a large range of disciplines, courting controversy with his academia but gaining fabulous praise for his poetry which he refused to alter in the face of modernism. No study of twentieth century literature is complete without him - indeed, he helped invent the modern critical apparatus - and hundreds flocked to see him on Majorca every year (much against his wishes). His personal life may have been full of confusion, passion and angst, but his obituaries reflected how much he'd achieved since his first in 1916.
