H.D. (1886-1961)

A selective list of literary criticism for the poet H.D. (Hilda Doolittle), favoring signed articles by recognized scholars, articles published in reviewed sources, and web sites that adhere to the Modern Language Association Guidelines for Web Pages

Literary Criticism

Augustine, Jane, ed. A review of H.D. The Gift: the Complete Text Jane Augustine, ed. (Univ. Press of Florida, 1988.) Reviewed by Charlotte Mandel. English Literature in Transition 1880-1920, 42 (1999)

Bruzelius, Margaret. "H.D. and Eurydice." [Treatment of a mythological character by a woman poet]. Twentieth Century Literature, Winter, 1998

Burnett, Gary. "H.D. and Lawrence: Two Allusions." On H.D.'s romantic relationship with D.H. Lawrence and the relationship of her poetry toward him. The H.D. Newsletter, vol. 1, no. 1 (Spring 1987), p. 32-35

DuPlessis, Rachel Blau. "Romantic Thralldom in H. D." On H.D.'s treatment in her poetry of the thralldom of women to males in romantic and spiritual love. First page of article only. Contemporary Literature, Vol. 20, No. 2 (Spring, 1979), pp. 178-203

Friedman, Susan Stanford. Penelope's Web: Gender, Modernity, H. D.'s Fiction (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1990. Criticism and interpretation; women and literature; sex role in literature). At Google Books

Gregory, Eileen. A review of Gregory's H.D. and Hellenism: Classic Lines (Cambridge Univ Press, 1997). Says the reviewer, "H.D. and Hellenism is groundbreaking as a study of the transmission and influence of classical literature in American poetry." Reviewed by Robert G. Babcock, Bryn Mawr Classical Review, 3/23/00.

Gregory, Eileen. On H.D.'s use of classical sources, on her use of Ovid in 'Thetis.' Gregory points out that "H.D's use of classical sources in her early poetry is not so pyrotechnic as that of contemporaries like Eliot or Auden or Pound." H.D. Newsletter 1, 1 (Spring 1987)

Gregory, Eileen. "H.D.'s Volume of Dickinson's Poems" short article on her connection with Emily Dickinson, in the H.D. Newsletter 3, 1

Hickman, Miranda B. "'Sparse and geometric contour': transformations of the body in H.D.'s 'Nights.'" Hickman raises questions about recent critical readings of H.D.'s feminism: "The question I will address is how the visionary body noted in critical descriptions of H.D.'s gynopoetic--the body, that is, that H.D. presents in Notes ['Notes on Thought and Vision']--relates to the geometric visionary body in Nights. The juxtaposition of H.D.'s two bodies, I would offer, can introduce some productive trouble into widespread assumptions about H.D.'s work--about the values and commitments it inscribes." Twentieth Century Literature, Fall, 2001

Hollenberg, Donna. "Abortion, identity formation, and the expatriate woman writer: H.D. and Kay Boyle in the twenties." Twentieth Century Literature, Winter, 1994

Jafferin, Frances. "A Gift of Song: My Encounter with H.D.," an appreciation of H.D., in How2, Vol. 1, No. 1 (March 1999) (removed from www.scc.rutgers.edu/however/v1_1_1999/fjgift.html)

Mandel, Charlotte. "H.D.'s "Projector II" and Chang, a Film of the Jungle," The H.D. Newsletter, vol. 1, no. 2

Mandel, Charlotte. "Beautiful Dreamers: Helen in Egypt and The Sleeping Beauty," Clockwatch Review 9, 1-2 (1994-1995)

Mandel, Charlotte. "Garbo/Helen: The Self-projection of Beauty by H.D." Women's Studies 7 (1980)

Mandel, Charlotte. "Letters Across the Atlantic: H.D., Bryher, May Sarton, During World War II." From A Celebration for May Sarton, 1994.

Mandel, Charlotte. "The Redirected Image: Cinematic Dynamics in the Style of H.D. (Hilda Doolittle)." Literature/Film Quarterly 11, 1 (1983)

Martz, Louis L. Publisher's web site for Martz's Many Gods and Many Voices: The Role of the Prophet in English and American Modernism (Univ. of Missouri Press, 1997). Covers Ezra Pound, T. S. Eliot, William Carlos Williams, H. D., and D. H. Lawrence

Ostriker, Alicia. "No Rule of Procedure: H.D. and Open Poetics," a brief article in HOW(ever), Vol. 5, No. 4 (October, 1989) (removed from www.scc.rutgers.edu/however/print_archive/alerts1089.html)

Ostriker, Alicia. "The Poet as Heroine: Learning to Read H. D." in Writing Like a Woman: Poets on Poetry. At Google Books

Ponsot, Marie. "Shot Through with Brightness: The Poems of H. D." American Poet, 2006

Scott, Jill. A review of Electra after Freud (Cornell Univ. Press, 2005). Scott's book focuses on the importance of the Electra myth in the 20th century and its use by Richard Strauss, Robert Musil, H.D., Sylvia Plath, and others. Reviewed by Elke Steinmeyer in Scholia Reviews # 15 (2006) p. 17

Silverstein, Louis. "The H.D. Papers at Yale University," The H.D. Newsletter, 1, 1 (Spring 1987)

Silverstein, Louis. "Nicknames and Acronyms used by H.D. and her Circle," a list of the nicknames used and who they refer to. The H.D. Newsletter, 1, 2 (Winter 1987)

Silverstein, Louis. Selections from the H.D. chronology The H.D. Newsletter, vol. 2, no. 2 (Winter 1988)

Sisson, C.H. "H. D. is one of the most elusive writers of the century, and she has in fact eluded many readers who might find pleasure in her work." Poetry Nation 4, 1975

Smyers, Virginia. "H.D.'s Books in the Bryher Library," The H.D. Newsletter, 1, 2 (Winter 1987)

Spoo, Robert. "H.D.'s Dating of Asphodel: A Reassessment," The H.D. Newsletter, 4, 2, (Winter 1991)

Spoo, Robert. "'Authentic Sisters' H.D. and Margaret Cravens," The H.D. Newsletter, 3, 1

Sword, Helen. "Orpheus and Eurydice in the Twentieth Century: Lawrence, H. D., and the Poetics of the Turn" [D.H. Lawrence]. On the potent archetype of the Orpheus myth. First page of article only. Twentieth Century Literature, 35, 4 (Winter, 1989)

Twitchell-Waas, Jeffrey. "Seaward," On H.D.'s 'Helen in Egypt' as a woman-centered epic poem, a response to Ezra Pound's 'Cantos.' Twentieth Century Literature, Winter, 1998

Wheeler, Lesley. "Both flower and flower gatherer: Medbh McGuckian's The Flower Master and H.D.'s Sea Garden." "This essay compares two poetic collections, one by a contemporary woman from the North of Ireland and one by an Anglo-American modernist, to show their contrasting approaches to womanhood and lyric poetry." Twentieth Century Literature, Winter, 2003

Zilboorg, Caroline. "H.D. and R.A.: Early Love and the Exclusion of Ezra Pound." Short article on H.D.'s romance with Richard Aldington and Pound's sometimes awkward presence. The H.D. Newsletter, 3, 1

Introduction, overview

Excerpts from reputable critical articles on various aspects of H.D.'s poetry and life, from the Modern American Poetry site at Univ. of Ill.

Introduction to H.D.'s career, includes list of works and a secondary reading list, from the Poetry Foundation

A guide for teaching H. D's poetry from educational publisher Heath. Editor Susan Stanford Friedman notes that it is fruitful to teach H.D. as a modernist woman poet in connection with other modernist woman writers such as Marianne Moore, Virginia Woolf, Gertrude Stein, Mina Loy, and Djuna Barnes.

Brief discussion questions for H.D.'s poetry, from educational publisher Norton

Some details about the Bryn Mawr collection of H.D. materials, includes a photo of Bryn Mawr students 1905 with H.D. and Marianne Moore in the shot

An introduction to five American women poets, including H.D., from Random House

A Yale Library exhibition documents the influence of Oriental aesthetics on American Modernists including H.D. and others

Web sites

Imagists: Richard Aldington and H.D. (Hilda Doolittle). The section for the H.D. International Society is an actively maintained web site for information about H.D. Reprints critical articles, articles from The H.D. Newsletter (some indexed here), links to H.D.'s texts, etc.

1998-2010 by Jan Pridmore