Hilda Doolittle (H.D.)
Bethlehem, Northampton County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
The renowned poet was born here on September 10, 1886; died in Zurich, September 27, 1961. H. D. sought the Hellenic spirit and a classic beauty of expression. She is buried in nearby Nisky Hill Cemetery. "O, give me burning blue."
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
The poet Hilda Doolittle — known to the literary world simply as H.D. — was born in Bethlehem in 1886 and grew into one of the pioneering voices of the Imagist movement. Reaching back to ancient Greece for her spare, luminous style, she pursued what her marker calls the Hellenic spirit and a classic beauty of expression across a career that spanned continents. She died in Zurich in 1961 and rests in nearby Nisky Hill Cemetery.
Why it matters
H.D. helped define modernist poetry in the early twentieth century, and her birthplace marks the Pennsylvania roots of a woman who shaped American letters.
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Related people
- · Hilda Doolittle (H.D.)
Themes & tags
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