Conrad Potter Aiken (August 8, 1889 – August 17, 1973) was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American author, born in Savannah, Georgia, whose work includes poetry, short stories, novels, and an autobiography.^[1] is the 220th day of the year (221st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1889 (MDCCCLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Sunday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... is the 229th day of the year (230th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the song by James Blunt, see 1973 (song). ... The Pulitzer Prize is an American award regarded as the highest national honor in print journalism, literary achievements, and musical composition. ... Savannah redirects here. ... This article is about the art form. ... This article is in need of attention. ... This article is about the literary concept. ...

Biography

Chldhood and youth

When he was eleven years of age, his physician father killed his mother, then himself because of family financial problems. According to his own writings, Aiken found the bodies of his parents.^[2] He was raised by his great-great-aunt in Massachusetts. Aiken was educated at private schools and at Middlesex School in Concord, Massachusetts, then at Harvard University where he edited the Advocate with T.S. Eliot. Aiken graduated in 1912. For other uses, see Doctor. ... This article is about the U.S. state. ... Middlesex School The Circle, Middlesex School, Concord, Massachusetts Clay Centennial Center, Middlesex School, Concord, Massachusetts Middlesex School is an independent preparatory school for grades 9 - 12 located in Concord, Massachusetts, USA. It was founded in 1901 by Frederick Winsor, who headed the school until 1937. ... Location in Massachusetts Coordinates: , Country United States State Massachusetts County Middlesex County Settled 1635 Incorporated 1635 Government  - Type Open town meeting Area  - Town  25. ... Harvard University (incorporated as The President and Fellows of Harvard College) is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA and a member of the Ivy League. ... The Harvard Advocate, the premier literary magazine of Harvard College, is the oldest continuously published college literary magazine in the United States. ... Thomas Stearns Eliot (September 26, 1888 - January 4, 1965), was a major Modernist Anglo-American poet, dramatist, and literary critic. ... 1912 (MCMXII) was a leap year starting on Monday in the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Tuesday in the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ...

Writing and later life

He was deeply influenced by symbolism, especially in his earlier works. In 1930 he received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for his Selected Poems. Many of his writings had psychological themes. The Pulitzer Prize in Poetry has been presented since 1922 for a distinguished volume of original verse by an American author. ...

He wrote the widely anthologised short story Silent Snow, Secret Snow (1934); his collections of verse include Earth Triumphant (1911), The Charnel Rose (1918), and And In the Hanging Gardens (1933). His poem Music I Heard has been set to music by a number of composers, including Leonard Bernstein and Henry Cowell. Silent Snow, Secret Snow (1934) is Conrad Aikens best known short story. ... Leonard Bernstein in 1971 Leonard Bernstein (IPA pronunciation: )[1] (August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, and pianist. ... Henry Cowell (March 11, 1897 – December 10, 1965) was an American composer, musical theorist, pianist, teacher, publisher, and impresario. ...

Aiken returned to Savannah for the last 11 years of his life. Aiken's tomb, located in Bonaventure Cemetery on the banks of the Wilmington River, was made famous by its mention in Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, the bestselling book by John Berendt. According to local legend, Aiken wished to have his tombstone fashioned in the shape of a bench as an invitation to visitors to stop and enjoy a martini at his grave. Its inscriptions read "Give my love to the world," and "Cosmos Mariner—Destination Unknown." Bonaventure Cemetery, in Savannah, Georgia, is located on the site of a plantation originally owned by John Mullryne, whose daughter Mary married Josias Tatnall, Sr. ... It has been suggested that this article be split into multiple articles accessible from a disambiguation page. ... John Berendt is the author of the best-selling non-fiction book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. ...

Marriages and children

Married first to Jessie McDonald, second to Clarissa Lorenz (author of a biography, Lorelei Two), and third to Mary Hoover. He is the father, by Jessie McDonald of the English writers Joan Aiken and Jane Aiken Hodge. Joan Delano Aiken (September 4, 1924–January 4, 2004) was an English novelist. ...

Siblings

Aiken had three younger siblings, Kemper, Robert, and Elizabeth. They were adopted by a relative and took his last name. Kemper was known as K.P.A. Taylor (Kemper Potter Aiken Taylor) and Robert was known as Robert P.A. Taylor (Robert Potter Aiken Taylor). Kemper helped establish the Aiken Taylor Award for Modern American Poetry. The Aiken Taylor Award for Modern American Poetry is an annual prize, administered by the Sewanee Review and the University of the South, awarded to a writer who has had a substantial and distinguished career. ...

Quotations

All lovely things must have an ending

All lovely things must fade and die

And Youth, that's now so bravely spending

Must beg a penny by and by

Fine ladies soon are all forgotten,

And goldenrod is dust when dead,

The sweetest flesh and flowers are rotten

And cobwebs tent the brightest head.

Come back, true love! Sweet youth, return!--

But time goes on, and will, unheeding,

Though hands will reach, and eyes will yearn,

And the wild days set true hearts bleeding.

Come back, true love! Sweet youth, remain!--

But goldenrod and daisies wither,

And over them blows autumn rain,

They pass, they pass, and know not whither.

— From All Lovely Things

Over the darkened city, the city of towers,
The city of a thousand gates,
Over the gleaming terraced roofs, the huddled towers,
Over a somnolent whisper of loves and hates,
The slow wind flows, drearily streams and falls,
With a mournful sound down rain-dark walls.

— From The House of Dust

Partial bibliography

• Cats And Bats And Things With Wings - 1965(Poems)
• Ushant - autobiography

References

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Conrad Aiken

• Read Aiken's interview in The Paris Review
• Works by Conrad Aiken at Project Gutenberg
• The House of Dust (1920)
• Conrad Aiken: Unitarian Prodigy Poet Biography
• LitWeb.net: Conrad Aiken Biography
• Conrad Aiken's Grave in Savannah, Georgia
• New Georgia Encyclopedia entry