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A review by jd_brubaker
Collected Poems 1912-1944 by Hilda Doolittle
3.0
I first encountered the complicated poems of Hilda Doolittle (H.D.) in my last term of undergrad. I took a Modernist Literature class and we read H.D.'s trilogy of poetry, "Trilogy." I remember being then enamored with her use of language, the ways she stepped outside of what might be considered "feminine" poetry to write about World War II. I remember being struck by the beautiful violence of the language she used, how she described being displaced by the war, and the ways in which she captured the trauma of that time.
So I was excited to return to her work this year. And to be honest, I was underwhelmed. Outside of the Trilogy, her writing, while certainly not bad or of poor quality, is...bland. A little lacking in flavor. She has a truly unusual way with words and metaphor, but taken as a whole, I found myself unable to focus or really commit myself to perusing her poems with any energy.
Perhaps this was more due to the other stressors I had to consider at the time (Covid, work, school, working on my thesis, etc). Perhaps her poetry only seemed lackluster because so many of the other books I read were genuinely astonishing. Perhaps I was simply too tired to really absorb the poems I thought I would be as obsessed with as I was the first time I read her work. Regardless of the reason, I was disconnected from her collected poems.
I still must recommend H.D. to anyone wanting to study poetry, and especially modernism. Her work really is filled with emotion, with evocation, and with an animated sense of being human that I've never quite found in any other poet at that time. And, in any case, reading any poetry is infinitely better than reading none, so definitely check out H.D. But rather than starting with her collected poems, I suggest reading Trilogy first. That is, in my opinion, where she shines brightest.
So I was excited to return to her work this year. And to be honest, I was underwhelmed. Outside of the Trilogy, her writing, while certainly not bad or of poor quality, is...bland. A little lacking in flavor. She has a truly unusual way with words and metaphor, but taken as a whole, I found myself unable to focus or really commit myself to perusing her poems with any energy.
Perhaps this was more due to the other stressors I had to consider at the time (Covid, work, school, working on my thesis, etc). Perhaps her poetry only seemed lackluster because so many of the other books I read were genuinely astonishing. Perhaps I was simply too tired to really absorb the poems I thought I would be as obsessed with as I was the first time I read her work. Regardless of the reason, I was disconnected from her collected poems.
I still must recommend H.D. to anyone wanting to study poetry, and especially modernism. Her work really is filled with emotion, with evocation, and with an animated sense of being human that I've never quite found in any other poet at that time. And, in any case, reading any poetry is infinitely better than reading none, so definitely check out H.D. But rather than starting with her collected poems, I suggest reading Trilogy first. That is, in my opinion, where she shines brightest.