H. D. (Hilda Doolittle)
(1886–1961)

The Imagist poets were a group of writers who focused on the direct presentation of images. Their poems expressed the essence of an object, person, or incident, without providing explanations. In addition to Ezra Pound and William Carlos Williams, one of the leading Imagist poets was Hilda Doolittle—more widely known as H.D.

Doolittle was born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and raised by an artistic and musical mother and a scientific father in a Moravian community. Her association with Ezra Pound began at Bryn Mawr College in 1901. Later, at the University of Pennsylvania, Doolittle forged a friendship with William Carlos Williams. Although she left the university in 1906 for health reasons, Doolittle continued studying Greek and Latin literature, a lifelong interest, on her own.

In 1910, Doolittle followed Ezra Pound to London. Three years later, with Pound's help, she published her first three poems in the influential Poetry magazine. In 1916, Doolittle published her first volume of poetry Sea Garden, which placed her firmly in the Imagist circle. Her Collected Poems was published in 1925.

In the early 1930s, Doolittle was both a student and a patient of Dr. Sigmund Freud. Her novel Tribute to Freud (1956) describes her experiences with the famed psychoanalyst. Doolittle's other novels include By Avon River (1949), which deals with Shakespeare and other writers of his time, and Helen in Egypt, which was published shortly before her death in 1961.

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