July 27, 1962

Richard Aldington (July 8, 1892 to July 27, 1962) was an English editor, biographer, and novelist. He was part of that literary group who inaugurated literary modernism. He was the editor of The Egoist, a job he passed on to T. S. Eliot later. His circle included Ezra Pound, and Lawrence, and his wife H. D., shared his ambitions for a new poetry focused on the "image" rather than abstract ideas.

Aldington's bibliography is lengthy. His comments can be memorable:

'By the sense of mystery I understand the experience of certain places and times when one's whole nature seems to be in touch with a presence, a genius loci, a potency.'

'No man who has managed to keep out of an office can be called a failure in life.'

And Artifex; sketches and ideas (1935) includes this charming observation:

'Cats are like donkeys and camels, they won't ever quite give in to human tyranny, they won't try to imitate the human soul.'

An interesting thing about Aldington's assessment of felines, is how accurate it is.