H.D. --- Introduction to the Poet and the Reading
(Source: Contemporary Authors Online. The Gale Group, 2000)

"During the 1930's H. D. published little while living privately in Switzerland. A major influence on her in this time was the psychoanalysis she submitted to under the guidance of Sigmund Freud. Feeling the need "to dig down and dig out, root out my personal weeds, strengthen my purpose, reaffirm my beliefs, canalize my energies," H. D. first sought Freud's help in 1933 and visited him again a year later. She published her recollections of the experience in her 1956 book, Tribute to Freud.

"Essentially," said [Vincent] Quinn, "the work is a self- portrait brought into focus by her confrontation with Freud." Freud helped H. D. to understand her dreams, Quinn reported, but the two differed in their beliefs in immortality. As H. D. herself wrote, Freud's argument was that a "belief in the soul's survival, in a life after death ... was the last and greatest phantasy." H. D., in comparison, longed "for the Absolute," said Quinn. "She clung to the faith that the shortcomings of time would be overcome in eternity."

"The genesis of Trilogy lies in the catalytic effects on H. D. of living in war-time London," said Peter Scupham. "Her sense of living at a turning point in time led her to these meditations on the nature of the poet's role, the correspondences between Christian belief and the Egyptian pantheon, the presences of the spiritual world and the healing and unifying visions of reconciliation."

In The Walls Do Not Fall, the first volume of the trilogy, H. D.asserted her idealism--her belief in man's union with God--in the face of war, reported Quinn. Tribute to the Angels follows that same theme, focusing on the conflict between faith and war. With her faith firmly established, H. D. then seeks in Flowering of the Rod, a mystical vision, "a transcendental union with God." This section of the trilogy has been criticized for being too mystical; but, as Quinn noted, "although the reader may be dismayed by H. D.'s theology, his sympathy is almost certain to be aroused by the candor and intensity of her quest for a religious experience."

Corresponding with the power of H. D.'s vision was an equally strong poetic presentation. "There are in these poems the same qualities found in the verse written more than a decade earlier," remarked Donald Barlow Stauffer: "precision of image and word, directness of statement, but with a sureness and evenness of tone that show how firmly she was in control of the world she had chosen to re-create.""

Source: Contemporary Authors Online. The Gale Group, 2000
From the entry: Hilda Doolittle 1886-1961

To access the full essay on H. D.:
go to the Fenwick Library's Database Page
& type Contemporary Authors into the dialog box

<syllabus> <weekly overviews> <day-by-day> <assignments> <faculty> <resources> <honor code> <ncc writing guide>

© the faculty of nclc 130: the social world
spring 2002

new century college in the college of arts and sciences
george mason university

last updated: 20 February, 2002
for additional information, contact: lesley smith