H.D. Critical Essay | Critical Essay by Emily Stipes Watts

Critical Essay by Emily Stipes Watts

Among Imagist poems, the verse of H. D. stands apart. Although she has been called "the perfect Imagist," she was never really an Imagist, as Pound defined that term anyway. Although she is credited with being one of the formulators of the three Imagist principles, she was hardly any more a "follower" of them than Guiney, Cather, or Reese. (p. 152)

If we examine the three original principles of Imagism as stated by F. S. Flint in the March 1913 issue of Poetry, we find that H. D.'s verse is related to, undoubtedly should stand as the original inspiration of, Imagism, but is in fact something else besides. The first principle is "1. Direct treatment of the 'thing,' whether subjective or objective." In a general sense, this principle in fact reflects much of women's verse in the nineteenth century. If taken literally, for example, it describes much of Dickinson's verse....
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