American writer of novels and poetry, known as HD, a nickname given to her by poet Ezra Pound, with whom she was romantically linked. HD was one of the founders of the Imagist movement.
Dropping out of Bryn Mawr, she moved to England where, though their romance was over, Ezra Pound introduced her to the literary scene. She met the novelist Richard Aldington and married him on October 18, 1913 in Kensington. Her poems first began appearing in print in January 1913. With an affinity for all things Greek, she began to travel throughout Europe and visited Greece for the first time. WWI had been a difficult period and the end of the war brought no relief. Her brother was killed in action in 1918 and she had suffered a miscarriage.. D. H. Lawrence introduced her to Cecil Gray with whom she had an affair, and she bore him a daughter, Frances Perdita on March 31, 1919. Her father died that same year. The best thing about this difficult time was that she met Annie Winifred Ellerman (who named herself Bryher) in Cornwall on July 17, 1918. They became great friends and their friendship developed into love. They often traveled together as cousins and supported each other through difficult times, including Bryher’s marriages. Later, in 1933-34, when HD fell into another difficult period, Bryher introduced her to Havelock Ellis and then to Sigmund Freud, and HD became the psychologist’s analysand. HD, long separated from her husband, divorced in 1938.
During WWII, HD and Bryher lived together, both writing poetry and meeting esteemed authors and poets of the day. HD became very interested in spiritualism; having grown up with a Moravian father, she was familiar with symbols and had had a lifelong interest in the metaphysical..
After WWII, HD suffered a mental breakdown and returned to Switzerland. In July 1961, she suffered a stroke and died on September 27, 1961 in Zurich. The cause of death has been given as stroke, flu or heart attack by different sources. She was 74.
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