Hilda “H.D.” Doolittle: Exploring a Bethlehem-born poet and a community

To take a look at Bethlehem-born poet and writer Hilda “H.D.” Doolittle is to really take a look at ourselves and society.

H.D. was born at the pivotal point when society was moving from traditional Victorian ideals to the modern world, and she wrote on a wide range of issues and topics, including feminism, sexuality, war, love, science, nature and religion.

Lehigh University professor and H.D. scholar Seth Moglen plans to explore the link between H.D.’s life, her work and how it relates to our society during his lecture Wednesday at the Bethlehem Area Public Library. Joining him in the discussion, “How We Fell in Love with H.D. — and Why You Should Too: An Introduction to Hilda Doolittle,” will be fellow scholar Jenny Hyest.

“Who is this remarkable woman who most of us have never heard of?” Moglen says, pointing out that she broke female stereotypes and was an outspoken voice on a number of issues.

“H.D. is one of the greatest feminist writers of the 20th century,” Moglen says. “H.D. was openly and unapologetically bisexual and was deeply interested in the exploration of that experience and so she has come to stand as both a major feminist visionary and a visionary of the queer experience.”

Her work also explored the natural and spiritual worlds around her and H.D. drew upon her childhood spent in Bethlehem for inspiration throughout her life.

“Part of her gift as a poet was a remarkable capacity to create vivid emotional representations of the natural world and this was the thing that was most admired about her at the start of her career,” Moglen says. “So, nature lovers will find in H.D. extraordinarily interesting and moving and surprising representations of the natural world.”

It’s those many facets of H.D.’s work that Moglen and others hope to introduce to the community with a series of events throughout this year.

“Finding H.D., A Community Exploration of the Life and Work of Hilda Doolittle” is a partnership between the Lehigh University English Department, Bethlehem Area Public Library, Mock Turtle Marionette Theatre and the Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center in Allentown.

The celebration is the brainchild of Doug Roysdon, founder of Mock Turtle Marionette Theatre, who wanted to create a work honoring the spirit of the Women’s March on Washington in February 2016. Initially, the idea was to focus on poet Emily Dickinson, but he soon zeroed in on Doolittle because of her ties to the Valley.

Born Sept. 10, 1886, into a devout Moravian family, Doolittle grew up in Bethlehem before moving to Europe, where she spent most of her life until her death in Zurich, Switzerland, in 1961.

Roysdon says H.D.’s life and her work reflect her Valley and Moravian roots.

“H.D., in her own way, even though she didn’t spend her life here, is about us,” he says. A contemporary of modernist movement poets including Ezra Pound, T.S. Eliot and William Butler Yeats, H.D. sought to find meaning in a rapidly changing world. Her works took on the issues of feminism, women and religion, gender, love and death and the more tranquil themes of nature and the world about her.

“I saw the courage of her life,” Roysdon says. “That’s what’s really exciting to me. She took life on in a way that few people do.”

For “Finding H.D.,” Roysdon teamed up with Moglen and Mary Foltz, co-founder and director, respectively, of Lehigh’s South Side Initiative, an organization devoted to collaborating with the local community to address issues and challenges relevant to residents. Foltz specializes in the connection of literature to the issues of our time, including feminism, gender identity and queer sexuality.

Other organizers are H.D. fans Josh Berk, executive director of the Bethlehem Area Public Library, and Liz Bradbury, director of the Training Center at the Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center.

The organizers have scheduled a range of events to get as many people involved and interested in H.D. as possible, including library lectures, walking tours and a film screening.

In 2017, the site of Doolittle’s childhood home — where the Bethlehem Area Public Library now stands — was recognized as a Literary Landmark by United for Libraries. As part of the celebration, the library is working to raise $3,500 to commission a portrait of H.D. to hang in the entry way of the library — a Kickstarter campaign is underway. The library also plans a portrait contest for artists of all ages and an exhibit.

The series will conclude in October with the performance of a play being written by Roysdon as part of Touchstone Theatre’s 10-day Festival Unbound, which will feature original theater and community conversation about issues of diversity and quality of life in Bethlehem. The play will explore H.D.’s life using her own words.

“This takes us to the roots of Bethlehem,” he says. The Moravian founding of the city, which integrated the group’s value of equality and then shifted away from that ideal, had a profound impact on H.D.’s work throughout her life, Roysdon says. “This early feminism of Bethlehem is something we want to celebrate and it’s part of what H.D. is about. … That’s how she’s us.”

Once the group started delving into H.D.’s life, it became clear a series of events that breaks down the many parts of the poet’s work was needed, says Jennie Gilrain, who will direct Roysdon’s play.

“There’s so many different facets to her,” she says. “There’s so much to discover. …we keep finding pockets in the community who can relate to her for different reasons.”

Gilrain, a fourth-grade teacher and former adjunct professor in Lehigh University’s theater department, points out that H.D. was a self-taught academic and some of her work focuses on the natural world, which is why the panel discussion on April 16 includes a horticulturist and a physics professor, who will bring context to the poet’s writings. Events also include a nature walk and meditation time presented by Anisa George that will explore the Japanese method, Shinrin-yoku, which means “taking in the forest atmosphere” and is used as a way to de-stress. The walkers will use H.D.’s writings to meditate.

In light of the current focus on women’s issues, an exploration of H.D. and her work, as well as how it relates to the Bethlehem and Valley, is timely, Gilrain says. “It’s time to put her out there.”

Moglen agrees, saying he was initially drawn to Doolittle’s work because of her distinctive poetic voice that spoke volumes on large issues facing society. Now, almost 40 years later, H.D. and her views still hold a fascination for him. Her work covers a “breathtaking historical range,” he says. “All rooted in how we could love one another.”

Among the barriers she broke was the one that led to more acceptance of women as poets and writers.

“She was the first woman to receive the medal of the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1960, so in that sense, H.D. really shattered the glass ceiling that had up to that point kept women out of the sort of highest levels of the literary establishment,” he says.

So, in that way, H.D.’s life and work include all of us.

Linda Doell is a freelance writer.