H.D. and the Imagism Movement

H.D., or Hilda Doolittle, was a literary leader of the Imagism movement. She is one of the more famous poets of the 1920's, and helped to shape the stylistic writing choices of the time period. H.D.'s poem "Sea Rose" identified and accentuated the style and technique used by Imagist writers.

 H.D. uses concrete ideas and themes to maintain her abstract, feeling based poems. Imagists pair the concrete with images to create a sense of emotion, and in "Sea Rose" H.D. pairs the rose with love, which is very traditional. However, the way that the rose and love is used in the poem is very unique. H.D. talks about the harshness of love in her first line , "Rose, harsh rose". While one can still tie the abstract thought of love to the concrete rose, the meaning is warped and follows the Imagist trend of rejecting purely sentimental language. The poem then goes on to describe the marred nature of love, how it has been thrown about and mangled, how it stands alone without the protection of a strong stem. The stem in itself can also be connected to the abstract thought of protection, strength, and in essence holds the flower (love) together. The poem also describes a lack of leaves around the flower which can be paired with nurturing and protection. All three parts of the flower use Imagist techniques to pair abstract emotions and symbols with a concrete item.

Continuously the abstract ideas that H.D. gives her concrete items work in contradiction with one another. She talks about the harshness of the rose and it's tattered holdings, turning one of the most symbolic representations of love right around on it's head. The rose and the stem and the leaves all have contradictions which I find incredibly alluring. The poem was a real slap in the face to Romantic poets, whom had always uses roses as a symbol of pure love and affection.

Karen Russell and the Ideal Author

Each individual has an ideal writer, one author who speaks to the reader in more than just paragraphs and phrases. Some authors speak volumes while others simply write volumes. If there ever were a situation in which I was a character in a book (and I might as well be, I'm just becoming self aware now I guess.) Karen Russell would be my ideal author. She is a young up and coming author who works usually in short stories and novels. Russel has published three books so far; two collections of short stories and one novel. Her novel is, in fact, an extension of a short story she wrote in her first book. I discovered Russell through my aunt, who had worked as an editor and publisher for Hachette Books and through her own literary escapades found Russel. She gave my her first collection of stories 'St. Lucy's Home For Girls Raised By Wolves' as a present for my birthday. I immediately fell in love with Russell's writing style and her stories, which reflect on the earnest nature of youth and growing up while also delving into the abnormal and bizarre parts of life. Both of these heavy themes are easily relateable for me as a young person growing up in an incredibly big and wild world. Russel's writing incorporates beautiful imagery and incredibly odd plot lines which keep readers both interested and astounded by the turns her stories can take. I can easily imagine myself as a character in one of her stories, not that my life is particularly odd or supernatural, but there is a touch of everyday abnormalities that Russell captures in her writing which is truly entertaining to read. The technical aspects of her writing in also captivating in her word choices and sentence structure. I can enjoy reading Russel's work countless times before I become even a little bit bored, and there are always certain passages and sentences that I can recall in her work, hidden jewels that lodge themselves in my memory, and that is what truly makes Russel a fantastic author.