Hilda Doolittle

Biography

 Hilda Doolittle (September 10, 1886–September 27,

1961), also known as H.D., was a poet, author,
translator, and memoirist known for her early poetry,
which helped bring in the "modern" style of poetry,
and for her translations from Greek.
 Also Known As: H.D.
 Born: September 10, 1886, in Bethlehem,
Pennsylvania
 Parents: Charles Leander Doolittle and Helen
(Wolle) Doolittle
 Died: September 27, 1961, in Zurich, Switzerland
 Education: Bryn Mawr College
 Early Writing and Love Interests
 When Doolittle was 15, she met Ezra Pound, a 16-year-old freshman
at the University of Pennsylvania where her father was teaching. The
next year, Pound introduced her to William Carlos Williams, then a
medical student. Hilda enrolled at Bryn Mawr, a women's university,
in 1904. Marianne Moore was a classmate. By 1905, Doolittle was
composing poems.
 Despite her father's opposition, Dolittle became engaged to Pound
and the couple met secretly. During her sophomore year, Doolittle
left school due to health issues and because she was struggling in
math and English. She turned to self-study of Greek and Latin and
began writing for Philadelphia and New York papers, often
submitting stories for children.
Early life


 Hilda Doolittle was born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, to Charles Leander Doolittle,
who came from New England ancestry, and Helen (Wolle) Doolittle. She was the
only surviving girl in her family, with three brothers and two older half-brothers.
 At the time of Hilda's birth, Charles was the director of Sayre Observatory and a
professor of mathematics and astronomy at Lehigh University. Charles valued
education and wanted Hilda to become a scientist or mathematician. Hilda wanted
to be an artist like her mother, but her father ruled out art school. Charles was cool,
detached, and uncommunicative.
 Imagist Poet

 At one meeting, Pound declared Doolittle to be an imagist and wanted her to sign
her poems "H.D. Imagist." She agreed and after that was known professionally as
H.D. Under the new name, she contributed to the 1914 publication, "Des
Imagistes," the first anthology of imagist poetry. Publishing her poems
in Poetry magazine, H.D. began to have an influence on others. Amy Lowell, for
instance, reacted to H.D.'s published poems by declaring herself an imagist as wel
 Personal life
 Due to her poor health, H.D. resigned as the Egoist's editor in 1917, and T.S. Eliot
succeeded her in that position. D.H. Lawrence had become a friend, and one of his
friends, Cecil Gray, a music historian, became romantically involved with H.D.
Later, Lawrence and his wife came to stay with her. H.D. and Lawrence apparently
nearly had an affair, but her affair with Gray led to Lawrence and his wife leaving.
 In 1918, H.D. was devastated by the news that her brother, Gilbert, had died in
action in France. Their father had a stroke when he learned of his son's death. This
same year, H.D. became pregnant, apparently by Gray, and Aldington promised to
be there for her and the child.
 Legacy

 H.D. created such a wide, diverse, and powerful body of work. In addition to her
role as one of the earliest and most influential imagist poets, H.D. wrote a full-
length book about Freud, mentioned previously, that is still available and admired
by scholars and aficionados today, as are many of her other works. Her book-
length poem called "Helen of Egypt," about the many legends surrounding the
famed figure from Greek mythology, is still popular as well.
 Shadows of War

 Bryher became involved with rescuing refugees from the Nazis between 1923 and
1928, helping more than 100 people escape. H.D. also took an anti-fascist stand.
Over this, she broke with Pound, who was pro-fascist, even promoting investment
in Mussolini's Italy.
 H.D. published "The Hedgehog," a children's story, in 1936, and the next year
published a translation of "Ion" by Euripides. She divorced Aldington in 1938, the
year she also received the Levinson Prize for Poetry.
H.D. returned to Britain when war broke out. Bryher returned
after Germany invaded France. They spent the war mostly in
London. In the war years, H.D. produced three volumes of
poetry: "The Walls Do Not Fall" in 1944, "Tribute to the Angels"
in 1945, and "Flowering of the Rod" in 1946. This trilogy was
reprinted in 1973 as one volume. It was not nearly as popular as
her earlier work.
 Published Works: "Sea Garden" (1916),
"Heliodora and Other Poems" (1924),
"Nights" (1935), "Tribute to the
Angels" (1945), "Helen in Egypt" (1961), "Bid
Me to Live" (1960)
 Awards and Honors: Guarantors Prize, 1915;
Levinson Prize, 1938 and 1958; Brandeis
University Creative Arts Medal, 1959; Award of
Merit Medal for poetry; National Institute and
American Academy of Arts and Letters, 1960
The most famous poem

 Perhaps the greatest H. D. poem from the latter half of her career, 'The Walls Do Not Fall'
grew into the three-part long poem Trilogy, written during the Second World War but
taking in religion, comparative mythology, the zodiac, and autobiography (H. D. recalls
her time spent in Egypt in the 1920s with her lesbian
 Questions

 Where was Hilda Doolittle born?

 mention one of Hilda Doolittle's poems?
 Who did Hilda Doolittle marry?
 What nickname did Hilda Doolittle have in literature?