Goodbye to all that by Robert Graves - Book Report/Review Example

History Response Essay for, "Goodbye to all that" by Robert Graves The autobiography by Robert Graves, Good-bye to All (1929), has been a landmark anti-war memoir of life in the trenches during the World War I and the author expresses, through the title of the book, his cynicism in the existence of the traditional and established values in European and English society. In this illustrious book, which was written by Graves in his thirties, the author mainly deals with his childhood, youth and military service and the author bids goodbye to all that belong to his past. "The objects of this autobiography, written at the age of thirty, are simple enough: an opportunity for a formal goodbye to you and to you and to you and to me and to all that; forgetfulness, because once all this has been settled in my mind and written down and published it need never be thought about again; money." (Graves, 5) Therefore, the intention of the author in writing this autobiography is to relieve his thoughts and feelings about his childhood, youth and military service and the author begins the work with an account of his English public school education and concludes it with a description of the post-war years, including a stint teaching in Cairo. However, the bulk of the book gives details of the author's military service during the World War I and the work remains one of the most stupendous personal narratives of the World War I in English. Although one may not be fascinated by the moral vision of the book, like that of the poetry of his compatriots such as Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen, Good-bye to All is definitely unsurpassed for the author's insight into the psychology of life in the trenches. Similarly, the author is at his best when he gives descriptions of his relationships with other distinguished personalities such as the climber George Mallory, T.E. Lawrence and Thomas Hardy. Most significantly, the work by Robert Graves catches the attention of a reader who is interested in the personal side of the World War I and personal aspects of the author himself. Therefore, the author provides a very convincing account of his childhood, youth and military service through this autobiography and the work acts as an effective teaching tool as it deals with an important personal version of the World War I. "Good-bye to All is indeed a brilliantly impressionistic account of Robert's early life, packed full of interest and excitement, and it is one of the finest and most vivid records of life in the trenches during the First World War. Written in a cool, laconic style, without a trace of pretentiousness, it addresses the reader simply, clearly, directly, and often most movingly." (Graves, xi) In his autobiography, Robert Graves depicts a convincing picture of his childhood and the various aspects of his family become obvious in this account. Born in the prosperous London suburb of Wimbledon on 24 July 1895, Graves was the son of an Irish Inspector of Schools with a 'second career' as a poet and his mother was a German who wanted her extensive family to be saintly as well as successful. The author's mother belonged to the von Rankes family and his great uncle Leopold von Ranke was the first modern historian. At the age of eighteen, his mother was sent to England companion to a lonely old woman and she met his father who was at that time a widower with five children. Graves' father's family, the Graveses, was Irish and his father was a poet as well as an inspector of schools for the Southwark. To tell about the other side of his family, "the Graves' have a pedigree that dates back to the Conquest, but is good as far as the reign of Henry VII. Colonel Graves, the regicide, who was Ireton's chief of horse, is claimed as the founder of the Irish branch of the family. Limerick was its centre." (Graves, 10) Therefore Graves provides a detailed account of his childhood and family. The influence of his family on his childhood has been vital and he was resented throughout his school-days for trying to live up to the high moral standards of his home. At the age of fifteen, when he was particularly unhappy at Charterhouse, he began to write poetry in order to deal with the external pressures and internal conflicts. "The Graves family was thin-nosed and inclined to petulance, but never depraved, cruel, or hysterical." (Graves, 12) Therefore, through the autobiography, the author provides valuable insights into his childhood and the role of his family on the molding of his individuality. He was able to learn different aspects of his life from his family and it was a functional family, in a sense. One of the most essential factors that contributed to the popularity of the book has been that Graves, expounding upon his experiences during World War I, intertwines elements of a personal and political nature in order to illustrate the atrocities of the war. The author was at Harlech when the war was declared and he decided to enlist a day or two later. He never thought that the war would last for long. "In the first place, though only a short was expected - two or three months at the very outside - I thought that it might last just long enough to delay my going to Oxford in October, which I dreaded. I did not work out the possibilities of being actively engaged in the war. I thought that it would mean garrison service at home while the regular forces were away." (Graves, 69) Therefore, Graves was not aware of how long exactly the war would last or what kind of experiences he would encounter in the British Army. The author's account of how he found himself in the British Army is especially interesting as it was all too fast. Graves' nearest regimental depot was at Wrexham, the Royal Welch fusiliers, and he wanted to enlist his name there. "The Harlech golf secretary suggested my taking commission instead of enlisting. He rang up the adjutant and said that I was a public school boy who had been in the Officers' Training Corps at Charterhouse. So the adjutant said: 'Send him right along,' and in 11th August I started my training. I immediately became a hero of my family." (Graves, 71) In the course of his autobiography, Graves depicts his experiences in the trenches in a convincing manner and he talks about the various kinds of friendship he developed in the trenches. When he started his life in the trenches he happened to belong to a company mess in which four his young colleagues out of five had either German mothers or naturalized German fathers. They felt that they would be treated as German spies if they had not the British army fighting Germans. The author had three or four uncles in the opposite side of the army and several cousins too. Similarly, the companions in his regiment were mainly boys who had failed to pass into the military college. "The fellows who applied for commissions at the same time as me were for most part boys who had recently failed to pass into the Royal Military College at Sandhurst, and were trying to pass into the regular army by the old militia door - which was now known as the Special Reserve. There were only few fellows who had gone into army, like myself, for the sake of war and not for the sake of a career." (Graves, 71) Therefore, the author provides details about his experiences in the trenches as well as the friendships he built there. Thus, he tells about a boy called Taylor in his company who had been at Lancaster and Graves had bought him a piccolo to play when the detachment went out on route marches. This boy used to give them one tune after another for mile after mile. Graves depicts his experiences in the trenches and his war-time feelings about the Royal Welch Fusiliers in an interesting manner. "I used to congratulate myself on having chosen, quite blindly, this of all regiments The Royal Welch record was beyond reproach. There were twenty nine battle honors on its colors, a number only equaled by two other two-battalion regiments." (Graves, 71) Thus, Graves depicts his experiences in the trenches in a convincing manner and the readers are carried away by his narrative technique. Graves also provides a detailed description of how the war affected him and his prospects. In conclusion, Robert Graves' Good-bye to All acts as an important teaching tool as it deals with the personal version of the World War II and the author has been successful in portraying his childhood, youth and military service in an effective way. Graves' depiction of his experiences in the trenches as well as his opinions on various essential factors makes the book all the more relevant. Works Cited Graves, Robert. Good-Bye to All That: An Autobiography. New York: Berghahn Books. 1995. P 5. Read More