Robert von Ranke Graves was one of the most prolific poets of the twentieth century, with an active career that spanned six decades. He was born in London, England, on July 24, 1895, and grew up in a well-established British family, with German ancestry on his mother's side and Irish on his father's. His mother's family, the von Rankes, was dominated by clergymen, while the Graveses of his father's side were generally intellectuals, right down to his father, who was an amateur poet and an inspector of schools. Graves was raised in an atmosphere of thoughtfulness and civility. He attended private preparatory schools until he was ready to go to Oxford, but his education was interrupted when he enlisted to fight in World War I soon after it began in 1914.

Graves' service in the war is told about in great detail in Good-Bye to All That, the memoir...