Helen in Egypt: Poetry

New York, NY: New Directions. Fine. 1974. First Edition Thus; Third Printing. Paperback. Fine in Wraps: flawless; the binding is square and secure; the text is clean. Free of creases to the panels. Free of creases to the backstrip. Free of any creased or dog-eared pages in the text. Free of any underlining, hi-lighting or marginalia or marks in the text. Free of any ownership names, dates, addresses, notations, inscriptions, stamps, plates, or labels. A handsome, like-new copy, structurally sound and tightly bound, showing no discernible imperfections. Bright and clean. Corners sharp. Virtually "As New". NOT a Remainder, Book-Club, or Ex-Library. 8vo. (7.9 x 5.25 x 0.85 inches). Foreward by Horace Gregory. Language: English. Weight: 12 ounces. NDP380. First published in 1961. Trade Paperback. Hilda Doolittle (1886 – 1961) was an American modernist poet, novelist, and memoirist who wrote under the name H. D. Throughout her life. Her career began in 1911 after she moved to London and co-founded the avant-garde Imagist group of poets with American expatriate poet and critic Ezra Pound. During this early period, her minimalist free verse poems depicting Classical motifs drew international attention. Eventually distancing herself from the Imagist movement, she experimented with a wider variety of forms, including fiction, memoir, and verse drama. Reflecting the trauma she experienced in London during the Blitz, H. D.' s poetic style from World War II until her death pivoted towards complex long poems on esoteric and pacifist themes. H. D.' s later work drew heavily from her eclectic blend of Christianity, Ancient Greek and Egyptian religion, Spiritualism, Hermeticism, Martinism and Cabala via the works of Robert Ambelain, alchemy, tarot, astrology, and Freudian psychoanalysis. She used the medium of the long poem to explore and communicate this mix of spiritualities. Between 1952 and 1955, while in her 60s, Hilda wrote her longest poem, Helen in Egypt. It was not published until just before her death in 1961. It is based Euripides' trilogy drama Helen, but imagines Helen of Troy's life after the fall of Troy and her relocation to Egypt. The poem reconstructs the source material into a feminist reinterpretation, exploring, but ultimately concluding, the themes as her earlier work. 'Helen in Egypt's long form and wide historical span has been seen as a response to Pound's Cantos, which she admired. In End to Torment she approved of Norman Holmes Pearson's labeling of 'Helen in Egypt' as "her 'cantos'".; Small 8vo 7½" - 8" tall; xi, 304 pages .