Chronological Bibliography/Biography
1886 Born September 10 in Bethlehem Pennsylvania
Father: Charles Leander Doolittle (1843-1919), professor of astronomy
Mother: Helen Wolle Doolittle (1853-1927), former music and art teacher
1895 Moves to Upper Darby, PA, just outside of Philadelphia
1901- Attends Miss Elizabeth Gordon's School in West Philadelphia
1902
1901 Meets Ezra Pound, a student at the University of Pennsylvania
1902- Attends Friends' Central School in Philadelphia
1905
1905- Becomes engaged, then disengaged, to Ezra Pound, at least two times
1908
1905 Graduates June 16 from Friends' Central School
1905- Attends Bryn Mawr College for three semesters
1906
1908- Enrolls in the college course for Teachers at the University of
Pennsylvania
1909
1912 Ezra Pound adds "Imagiste" to H.D.'s initials and sends her poems to Harriet Monroe, editor of Poetry
1913 Marries Richard Aldington on October 18 in London thus making her a British citizen
1915 Birth of stillborn daughter on May 21
1916 Sea Garden published
1918 H.D.'s brother Gilbert Doolittle is killed in action
1919 Father dies
Daughter Perdita Aldington is born on March 31, H.D. later admits she is
Cecil Gray's child
1921- Lives in various places including Switzerland, London, Paris, Berlin,
Venice
1946
1925- Becomes interested in psychoanalysis and aspects of the occult
such as astrology,
1932 numerology, and tarot
1927- Relationship with Kenneth Macpherson
1932
1927 Film debut in Wing Beat, filmed by Macpherson
Mother dies
1928 Perdita is adopted by Bryher and Macpherson
Abortion in November in Berlin
1930 Bryher and Macpherson build Kenwin, a home for them, H.D. and Perdita
Stars in Borderline, produced by Macpherson
1931 Red Roses for Bronze published
1933 Analysis with Freud
1936 The Hedgehog, for children, is illustrated by George Plank and published
1937 Euripides' Ion published
1938 Receives Levenson Prize from Poetry for "Sigel XV" and
"Calypso Speaks"
Divorced from Aldington
1944 The Walls Do Not Fall and What Do I Love? published
1945 Tribute to the Angels published
1946 The Flowering of the Rod published
1948- "Sabbatical year"
1949
1950 Perdita marries
1956 Tribute to Freud published
1957 Selected Poems of H.D. published
1958 Receives Harriet Monroe Memorial Prize from Poetry for "In Time of Gold," "Nails for Petals," and "Sometimes and After"
1959 Receives the Brandeis University Creative Arts Award for Poetry
1960 Bid Me to Live published
1961 Helen in Egypt published
Suffers a stroke in Zurich and dies
Ashes flown back to Bethlehem and laid to rest
Major Themes in Writing
--Desire for wildness of Nature
--Desire for comradeship with the gods
--Love
--Ancient Greece
Imagism
The style of poetry which employs free verse, precise imagery and patterns and rhythms of common speech
Imagist Credo
1. Use language of common speech
2. Create new rhythms; fighting free verse as a principle of liberty
3. Freedom of choice of subject
4. Present an image
5. Produce poetry that is hard and clear, never blurred nor indefinite
6. Belief that concentration is the essence of poetry
Additional Sources
Friedman, Susan S., Rachel DuPlessis, eds. Signets: Reading H.D. Madison,
WI:
U of Wisconsin P, 1990.
Fritz, Angela DiPace. Thought and Vision: A Critical Reading of H.D.'s
Poetry. Washington,
D.C.: Catholic UP, 1988.
Guest, Barbara. Herself Defined: The Poet H.D. and Her World. Garden
City, NY: Doubleday,
1984.
Mathis, Mary S. H.D.: An Annotated Bibliography, 1913-1986. Boston: Garland,
1991.
Quinn, Vincent. Hilda Doolittle (H.D.) New York: Twayne, 1967.
Robinson, Janice S. H.D.: The Life and Work of An American Poet. Boston:
Houghton Mifflin,
1982.
Swann, Thomas Burnett. The Classical World of H.D. Lincoln: U of Nebraska P, 1962.
Internet Resources
http://www.intac.com/~erc/hd/hd.html
http://www.poets.org/LIT/poet/hdoolitt.htm
http://www.well.com/user/heddy/index.html