Editing Conrad Aiken (section)

===Early years===
[[File:Oscar Dibble House.jpg|thumb|228 [[Oglethorpe Avenue|East Oglethorpe Avenue]] in [[Savannah, Georgia]]]]
Aiken was the eldest son of William Ford and Anna (Potter) Aiken. In Savannah, Aiken's father became a respected physician and eye surgeon, while his mother was the daughter of a prominent Massachusetts Unitarian minister.<ref name="Conrad Aiken" /> For the first eleven years of Aiken's life, his family lived at 228 [[Oglethorpe Avenue|East Oglethorpe Avenue]] in Savannah.<ref>{{Cite news |title= Oct 26, 1994, page 41 - the Atlanta Constitution at Atlanta Journal Constitution|newspaper=The Atlanta Constitution |date=October 26, 1994 |page=41 |url=https://ajc.newspapers.com/image/403711978/ |access-date=March 28, 2024}}</ref>

On February 27, 1901, William Ford Aiken murdered his wife and then committed suicide. According to his 1952 autobiography, ''Ushant'', Aiken, then 11 years old, heard the two gunshots and discovered the bodies immediately thereafter.<ref name="PoetryFoundation">{{cite web |url=https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/conrad-aiken |title=Conrad Aiken |website=Poetry Foundation.org |publisher=Poetry Foundation |access-date=July 6, 2020}}</ref> After his parents' deaths, he was raised by his great-aunt and uncle in [[Cambridge, Massachusetts]], attending [[Middlesex School]], then [[Harvard University]].<ref name="Conrad Aiken" />

At Harvard, Aiken edited the ''[[The Harvard Advocate|Advocate]]'' with [[T. S. Eliot]], who became a lifelong friend, colleague, and influence.<ref name="AcademyPoets">{{cite web |url=https://poets.org/poet/conrad-aiken |title=About Conrad Aiken |website=Poets.org |publisher=Academy of American Poets |access-date=July 6, 2020}}</ref> It was also at Harvard where Aiken studied under another significant influence in his writing, the philosopher [[George Santayana]].<ref name="PoetryFoundation" />