She studied cinematic techniques, both as an observer and a participant, even acting with Paul Robeson in an avant-garde movie,
Borderline. She was one of Sigmund Freud's analysands, a combination student and patient, in the thirties. She experimented with both fictional and poetic forms, helping to define the nature of free verse (as an Imagist) and to suggest the possibilities of stream-of-consciousness narration in her first novel. Her research into myths and the occult places her in the mainstream of intellectual inquiry during a period dominated by Sir James Fraser and Freud. Even though critics seemed to ignore her later works, H. D.'s significance continued to be acknowledged by her fellow artists. In 1960 the American Academy of Arts and Letters awarded her the Medal of Merit for Poetry.
Like many of her contemporaries, H. D.'s writings trace her personal quest to understand the world around her and the nature of her role as artist. Her quest is specifically a woman's search for self-identity, self-integration, and self-fulfillment. H. D. is one of the few modern writers whose characters speak directly to the problems, both personal and societal, faced by the woman artist.
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