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H.D. in the mid 1910s Hilda Doolittle ( September 10, 1886 - September 27, 1961), better known by the pen name H.D., was an American poet, novelist and memoirist. She is best known for her association with the key early 20th century avant-garde Imagist group of poets, although her later writing represents a move away from the Imagist model and towards a distinctly feminine version of modernist poetry and prose.
Doolittle was one of the leading figures in the bohemian culture of London in the early decades of the century. Her work is noted for its use of classical models and its exploration of the conflict between lesbian and heterosexual attraction and love that characterised her own life. Her later poetry also explores traditional epic themeIn music, a theme is the initial or primary melody. In film, television, and radio, theme music is a melody closely associated with the program. In literature, a theme is the unifying subject of the story. In philology, a theme is a root word . In computis, such as violenceViolence is a general term to describe behavior, usually deliberate, that causes or intends to cause injury to people, animals, or non-living objects. Violence is often associated with aggression. There are essentially two kinds of violence: random violen and warFor other uses of War, see War (disambiguation). War is conflict, between relatively large groups of people, which involves physical force inflicted by the use of weapons. Other terms for war include armed conflict hostilities and police action''. See Lim, from a feminist perspective. H.D. was the first woman to be granted the American Academy of Arts and LettersAmerican Academy of Arts and Letters is an organization whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain an interest" in American literature, music, and art. Founded in 1898 by H. Holbrook Curtis and Simeon E. Baldwin as the National Institute of Arts and Le medal.
Hilda Doolittle was born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Her father, Charles Doolittle, was professor of astronomy at Lehigh University and her mother, Helen (Wolle) was a Moravian with a strong interest in music. In 1895, Charles Doolittle was appointed Flower Professor of Astronomy at the University of Pennsylvania and the family moved to a house in Upper Darby on the outskirts of Philadelphia. She attended the (Society of) Friends Central High School at Fifteenth and Race streets, graduating in 1903. A year earlier she had met and befriended Ezra Pound, who was to play a major role both in her private life and her emergence as a writer. In 1905, he presented her with a sheaf of love poems with the collective title Hilda's Book.
That same year, Doolittle attended Bryn Mawr College to study Greek literature, but left after three terms because of bad grades and poor health. While at college, she met the poets Marianne Moore and William Carlos Williams. Her first published writings, some stories for children, were published in a local church paper between 1909 and 1913, mostly under the name Edith Gray. In 1907, she became engaged to Pound. Her father disapproved of Pound, and by the time the latter left for Europe in 1908, the engagement had been called off. Around this time, Doolittle entered into a relationship with a young art student called Frances Josepha Gregg. After spending part of 1910 living in Greenwich Village, the artistic quarter of New York, she sailed to Europe with Gregg and her mother in 1911.