Description
Barbara Guest, 1920-2006, was an American poet and prose stylist who gained prominence in the 1950s and 1960s as an active
member of the New York school of poetry. This collection consists of one annotated manuscript of her biography about the Imagist
poet H.D. titled
Herself Defined: A Biography of the Poet H.D. It was later published in 1984 as
Herself Defined: The Poet H.D. and Her World.
Background
Barbara Guest was born in Wilmington, North Carolina on September 6, 1920, but was raised for most of her life in California.
She was an American poet who is most often considered a member of the first generation of the New York school of poetry. The
New York school poets were characterized by their vivid imagery, stream of consciousness writing, and spontaneous manner.
Drawing their inspiration from the contemporary avant-garde art movements, they are also closely associated with the broader
art movement of the 1950s and 1960s. Other poets commonly associated with this school are Frank O'Hara, John Ashbery, Alice
Notley, and Kenneth Koch. Guest received her Bachelor of Arts in Humanities in 1943 from the University of California, Berkeley.
She was awarded the Frost Medal for Lifetime Achievement by the Poet's Society of America. Barbara Guest died in Berkeley,
California on February 15, 2006.Barbara Guest's manuscript highlights the life of H.D., born Hilda Doolittle (September 10, 1886-September 27, 1961) in Pennsylvania.
In 1911 she moved to London where she became recognized and involved with the Imagist movement of the time. The Imagists were
an avant garde poetic school focused on precise, clear imagery and sharp, economic language. Their publications included the
work of some of the most prominent figures in the Modernist movement. H.D. was the literary editor of the Egoist journal from
1916-1917 and her poetry appeared in the
English Review and Transatlantic Review. She was married for a period of time to Richard Aldington although their marriage ended during World War I. H.D. befriended
Sigmund Freud and later became his patient. She was an outspoken bisexual and had relationships with men and women throughout
her life. Her work and life was rediscovered in the 1970s and she became an icon of the gay and feminist movements.
Restrictions
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are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright
and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.