In a prospering, bustling Pennsylvania city on September 10, 1886, Helen Wolle gave birth to a baby girl whose literary talent would elegantly fuel one literary movement known as The Imagists. The name of the city was Bethlehem, and the name of the baby girl was H.D.: Hilda Doolittle.
From a literary perspective, H.D. was born ahead of her time and even the place of her birth. Though Bethlehem would grow culturally, industrially, and financially while H.D. matured into an elegant writer of poetry and prose, the city failed to herald H.D. as both a remarkable woman and creative writer of the times. Why?
Seemingly one reason is that H.D.'s poems lacked the traditional scope of rhythm and rhyme from the poets of the past. H.D.'s style incorporated her own lyrical tone and own choices of mythological characters. These choices included her own mystical imagery of love, as can be read in the poem "At Baia." Here are three last stanzas:
You never sent (in a dream)
the very form, the very scent,
not heavy, not sensuous,
but perilous--perilous--
of orchids, piled in a great sheath,
and folded underneath on a bright scroll,
some word:
"Flower sent to flower;
for white hands, the lesser white,
less lovely of flower-leaf,"
or
"Lover to lover, no kiss,
no touch, but forever and ever this."
Readers can read the entire poem by clicking the website:
http://www.poets.org/poems/poems.cfm?454...
The perpetuating core of H.D.'s poetry is imagery. In particular, images of passionate love! She writes of orchids being sent to a lover, writes of it in a dream, which gives readers another level of the meaning of the orchids. Also, she chooses to juxtapose these delicate flowers to the abrasive, cold sheath that a soldier of the ancient times of Helen of Troy might carry. In the dream, there are not any words sent with the orchids, which usually symbolize the love between two people. Perhaps this is a hint of a forbidden love: or even taboo love like an affair between one married woman and an unmarried man or between two women. Here are a few lines from the poem, "Sea Poppies."
Amber husk
fluted with gold,
fruit on the sand
marked with a rich grain,
treasure
spilled near the shrub-pines
to bleach on the boulders:
your stalk has caught root
among wet pebbles
and drift flung by the sea
and grated shells
and split conch-shells.
For more of the poem, click http://www.americanpoems.com/poets/hd/80...
The romantic sea catches all lovers: H.D. catches this atmosphere and heightens the emotion through the use of short lines, lyrical syllables and clear ocean imagery that alludes to lovers. One may further ponder over this idea of taboo love for H.D.'s poetry revealed that she lived a very spirited, rebellious, and passionate life.
From a literary perspective, H.D. was born ahead of her time and even the place of her birth. Though Bethlehem would grow culturally, industrially, and financially while H.D. matured into an elegant writer of poetry and prose, the city failed to herald H.D. as both a remarkable woman and creative writer of the times. Why?
Seemingly one reason is that H.D.'s poems lacked the traditional scope of rhythm and rhyme from the poets of the past. H.D.'s style incorporated her own lyrical tone and own choices of mythological characters. These choices included her own mystical imagery of love, as can be read in the poem "At Baia." Here are three last stanzas:
You never sent (in a dream)
the very form, the very scent,
not heavy, not sensuous,
but perilous--perilous--
of orchids, piled in a great sheath,
and folded underneath on a bright scroll,
some word:
"Flower sent to flower;
for white hands, the lesser white,
less lovely of flower-leaf,"
or
"Lover to lover, no kiss,
no touch, but forever and ever this."
Readers can read the entire poem by clicking the website:
http://www.poets.org/poems/poems.cfm?454...
The perpetuating core of H.D.'s poetry is imagery. In particular, images of passionate love! She writes of orchids being sent to a lover, writes of it in a dream, which gives readers another level of the meaning of the orchids. Also, she chooses to juxtapose these delicate flowers to the abrasive, cold sheath that a soldier of the ancient times of Helen of Troy might carry. In the dream, there are not any words sent with the orchids, which usually symbolize the love between two people. Perhaps this is a hint of a forbidden love: or even taboo love like an affair between one married woman and an unmarried man or between two women. Here are a few lines from the poem, "Sea Poppies."
Amber husk
fluted with gold,
fruit on the sand
marked with a rich grain,
treasure
spilled near the shrub-pines
to bleach on the boulders:
your stalk has caught root
among wet pebbles
and drift flung by the sea
and grated shells
and split conch-shells.
For more of the poem, click http://www.americanpoems.com/poets/hd/80...
The romantic sea catches all lovers: H.D. catches this atmosphere and heightens the emotion through the use of short lines, lyrical syllables and clear ocean imagery that alludes to lovers. One may further ponder over this idea of taboo love for H.D.'s poetry revealed that she lived a very spirited, rebellious, and passionate life.
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