A Study Guide for H. D.'s "Sea Rose"

By Gale and Cengage

A Study Guide for H. D.'s "Sea Rose," excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Poetry for Students. This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Poetry for Students for all of your research needs.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cengage Learning - Gale
• Release date: Sep 2, 2016
• ISBN: 9781535832687

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08

Sea Rose

H. D.

1916

Introduction

Sea Rose, written by Hilda Doolittle, more commonly referred to by her pen name, H.D., was first published in 1916 and was included in H.D.'s Sea Garden, her first collection of poetry. This poem is one of the most popular poems in this first collection and has been frequently anthologized. In Sea Rose, H.D. rejects the traditional image of the rose as a symbol of feminine beauty and love, and instead provides an image of a flawed and stunted rose enveloped in the sea. This reversal of expected images also suggests why H.D. is regarded as important in any discussion of modern feminist poetry. Her poem suggests that neither the rose, nor a woman, must be perfect to be appreciated. H.D. is perhaps the best known of the Imagist poets, who were followers of Ezra Pound's ideas about a new style of poetry that was direct, concise, and relied mostly on imagery to communicate its message. Indeed, H.D.'s Sea Rose is representative of how concise language can be used to create images from words. Sea Rose is also included in a collection of her poetry, H.D. Selected Poems, published in 1957. The third edition of The Norton Anthology of Modern and Contemporary Poetry, published in 2003, contains a selection of H.D.'s poetry, including Sea Rose.

Author Biography

H.D. was born Hilda Doolittle on September 10, 1886 in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. She was one of six children and the only daughter to survive infancy. Her father, Charles Doolittle, was a professor of mathematics and astronomy, and her mother, Helen, taught art and music at a local seminary. H.D. studied classical and modern language in high school and attended Bryn Mawr