Background
Aiken, Conrad Potter was born on August 5, 1889 in Savannah, Georgia, United States. Son of William Ford and Anna (Potter) Aiken. He was raised by his aunt in Massachusetts.
Conrad Aiken as a boy
Conrad Aiken
Bench at grave of Conrad Aiken in Bonaventure Cemetery in Savannah, Georgia.
Conrad Aiken
Aiken, Conrad Potter was born on August 5, 1889 in Savannah, Georgia, United States. Son of William Ford and Anna (Potter) Aiken. He was raised by his aunt in Massachusetts.
Aiken was educated at private schools and at Middlesex School in Concord, Massachusetts.
At Harvard University he edited the Advocate with T. S. Eliot who became a lifelong friend and associate, Bachelor of Arts, 1911.
He is the author of twenty-six volumes of poetry, five novels, forty-one short stories, two volumes of criticism, and one play. His works: Earth Triumphant and Other Tales (1914), Turns and Movies (1916), The Jig of Forslin (1916), Nocturne of Remembered Spring (1917), The Charnel Rose (1918), The House of Dust (1920), Punch: The Immortal Liar (1921), Priapus and the Pool (1922), Pilgrimage of Festus (1923), Scepticisms—Notes on Contemporary Poetry (1919), Priapus and the Pool, and Other Poems (1925), Bring! Bring! and Other Stories (1925), Blue Voyage (novel) 1927, Costumes by Eros (short stories) 1928, John Deth, and Other Poems (1930), The Coming Forth by Day of Osiris Jones (1931), Preludes for Memnon (1931), Great Circle (novel) 1933, Among the Lost People (short stories) 1934, Landscape West of Eden (poems) 1934, King Coffin (novel) 1935, Time in the Rock (1936), A Heart for the Gods of Mexico (novel) 1939, The Conversation (novel) 1939, And in the Human Heart (1940), Brownstone Eclogues (1942), The Soldier (1944), The Kid (1947), The Divine Pilgrim (1949), Skylight One (1949), Mr. Arcularis (play, with Diana Hamilton) 1949, The Short Stories of Conrad Aiken (1950), Ushant: An Essay (an autobiography) 1952, Collected Poems (1953), A Letter from Li Po (1956), Mr. Arcularis (1957), Sheepfold Hill (1957), A Reviewer’s ABC (criticism) 1958, The Collected Short Stories of Conrad Aiken (1960), Selected Poems (1961), The Morning Song of Lord Zero (1963), The Collected Novels of Conrad Aiken (1964), A Seizure of Limericks (1964), Cats and Bats and Things with Wings (1965), Tom, Sue, and the Clock (1966), Preludes (1966), Thee (1968), Collected Poems: 1916-1970, 1970; A Little Who's Zoo of Mild Animals (children's book) 1977, Selected Letters of Conrad Aiken (1978), Selected Poems (1980).
The Morning Song of Lord Zero (poems), 1963. The Collected Novels of Conrad Aiken, 1964. A Seizure of Limericks (poems), 1964.
Cats and Bats and Things with Wings (poems), 1965. Tom, Sue, and the Clock (poem), 1966. Preludes (poems), 1966.
Thee (poem), 1968; Collected Poems: 1916-1970, 1970. The Clerk’s Journal, An Undergraduate Poem, 1971. Editor: Modern American Poets, 1922.
Selected Poems Emily Dickinson, 1924. American Poetry (1671-1928), 1929. 20th Century American Poetry (anthology), 1963.
Contributor to Poets on Poetry, criticism, 1965. Compiler: Selected Poems, 1929. Contributing editor, Dial, 1917-1919.
Author: (poems) Earth Triumphant and Other Tales, 1914. Turns and Movies, 1916. The Jig of Forslin, 1916.Nocturne of Remembered Spring, 1917. The Charnel Rose, 1918. The House of Dust, 1920.Punch, The Immortal Liar, 1921. Priapus and the Pool, 1922. Pilgrimage of Festus, 1923.Scepticisms—Notes on Contemporary Poetry, 1919. Priapus and the Pool, and Other Poems, 1925. Bring! Bring! and Other Stories, 1925.Blue Voyage (novel), 1927. Costumes by Eros (short stories), 1928. John Deth, and Other Poems, 1930.The Coming Forth by Day of Osiris Jones (poem), 1931. Preludes for Memnon (poems), 1931. Great Circle (novel), 1933.Among the Lost People (short stories), 1934. Landscape West of Eden (poems), 1934. King Coffin (novel), 1935.Time in the Rock (poems), 1936. A Heart for the Gods of Mexico (novel), 1939. The Conversation (novel), 1939.And in the Human Heart (poems), 1940. Brownstone Eclogues (poems), 1942. The Soldier, 1944
Member American Academy Arts and Letters.
Married Jessie McDonald, August 25, 1912 (divorced 1929); married second, Clarice Lorenz, 1930 (divorced 1937). Children: John Kempton, Jane Kempton, Joan Delano. Married third, Mary Augusta Hoover, July 7, 1937.