Gay History Project: Walt Whitman and Peter Doyle
Walt Whitman, best known as the father of modern poetry and American poetry, was also the longtime lover of Peter Doyle, son of a blacksmith, a former Rebel soldier who worked as a streetcar conductor. They were often affectionate in public; both their families, and all Whitman’s friends,.. knew about their relationship. Doyle was a conspicuous influence on many of Whitman’s works. The couple first met on a Washington, DC streetcar in 1865, on a stormy winter night toward the close of the Civil War. Whitman was 45; Doyle, 21. Doyle thought his bearded only passenger, a blanket over his shoulders, looked “like an old sea captain.” “I thought I would go and talk to him,” Doyle said in an interview. “Something in me made me do it. He used to say there was something in me had the same effect on him…We were familiar at once. I put my hand on his knee …from that time on we were the biggest sort of friends.” Whitman was a burly six feet tall; Doyle, a slender five foot eight. Their differences extended beyond the physical. Whitman was a government clerk, journalist, and a published poet; Doyle, a workingman supporting his widowed mother and younger siblings. Whitman prided himself on patriotism; his brother George was a Union soldier, and he’d spent the last two years nursing the wounded in Washington’s army hospitals. Doyle had been a Confederate artilleryman, who’d obtained release from federal prison by claiming to be a British subject (born in Limerick, Ireland, he and his family emigrated here when he was a child). Pete and Walt were living proof that opposites attract. They were a familiar sight on Washington streetcars and at the bar in Georgetown’s Union Hotel. A favorite pastime was to hike along the Potomac River in Maryland, take the ferry to Virginia, and then hike back along the river on the Virginia side. They were unable to live together due to Pete’s obligations to his dependent family, though Walt wanted to settle down with Pete and brought it up repeatedly. But each man was warmly embraced by the other’s family. Pete would fondly recall dinners at the Whitmans’: “After we had our dinner she (Walt’s mother) would always say, ‘Now take a long walk to aid digestion.’ Mrs. Whitman was a lovely woman.” After Whitman’s first stroke in 1873, his mother wrote to Walt to express her confidence in Pete: “I knew if it was in his power he would cheerfully do everything he could for you.” Pete lived up to her expectations, nursing Walt for months. The Doyles also counted on Walt for whatever help he could offer, including recommending Pete’s brother Edward for a job with the Treasury Department, and lobbying newspapers to protect Pete’s older brother, policeman Francis, from sensationalized accounts of brutality. Walt considered Pete’s mother Catherine, brothers James, Francis — and younger brother Edward, and sister Margaret, who lived with Pete — dear friends. Doyle would have a lasting impact on Whitman’s work. For one thing, Doyle – who was present at Lincoln’s assassination – would shape Whitman’s writings about that tragic event. Doyle had gone to the performance of “My American Cousin” in Ford’s Theater on April 14, 1865, because he’d heard the Lincolns would be there. He heard the shot and saw John Wilkes Booth leap from Lincoln’s box to the stage, but didn’t know Lincoln was dead until he heard Mary Todd Lincoln cry out, “the President has been shot!” He was so stunned that he was one of the last to leave the theater, ordered out by a policeman. Lincoln had been one of Walt’s heroes, though they had never met. Walt, a friend of the President’s former secretary John Hay, had seen Lincoln in person numerous times. He’d written, “I never see the man without feeling that he is one to become personally attached to.” Walt would use Pete’s account in Specimen Days, Memoranda During The War, and lectures. Pete also affected Whitman’s most popular Lincoln poem “O Captain! My Captain!” Doyle came to America with his mother and three brothers on the William Patten in 1852; the ship nearly wrecked in a storm on Good Friday, also the day of Lincoln’s assassination. Whitman knew this. The poem memorializes Lincoln as a ship’s captain, who died while guiding his vessel safely to port through a storm. The poem, unlike most of Whitman’s, is metered and rhymed. During their walks, Doyle would often quote Limericks to Whitman; the poem’s extant first draft is in free verse, so he likely revised it to impress Doyle. Another poem written around the same time, “Come Up From The Fields Father,” is the only time Whitman ever identified a protagonist with a personal name — Pete. Pete could not have inspired “Calamus,” the notorious series of homoerotic poems published in 1860. (The controversial poems had gotten Whitman fired from his Department of the Interior job, but well-connected Walt quickly got a similar job in the Attorney General’s office.) Doyle did, however, affect Whitman’s decision to excise three of these poems from the 1867 edition of “Leaves Of Grass”. The three expressed despair over Whitman’s earlier failed relationship with another Irishman, Fred Vaughan, who married after splitting from him. Pete also figured prominently in Walt’s private notebooks, particularly passages cited by some scholars as the most convincing proof of Whitman’s gay sexuality. In the summer of 1870 Whitman began to suspect that Pete did not return his love. He wrote feverishly, vowing “TO GIVE UP ABSOLUTELY …this …USELESS UNDIGNIFIED PURSUIT OF 16.4.” 16 and four are the numeric locations of the initials P.D. in the alphabet. Walt also obviously later erased the “im” in “him” and replaced it with “er” in these entries. But before Walt left to visit his family later that summer, Pete confessed his love, ending Walt’s ambivalence. In a July 30 letter, Walt enthused, “I never dreamed that you made so much of having me with you, nor that you should feel so downcast at losing me.” Soon afterward, when Pete griped about his job, Walt wrote promising “a good smacking kiss, many of them – taking in return many, many from my dear son – good loving ones too.” Their relationship remained intense during Walt’s years in Washington. But Walt suffered a stroke in 1873, which impaired his left arm and leg. He went to live with his brother George in Camden, N.J., considering the arrangement temporary. Walt’s beloved mother died that same year, taking an emotional toll on him as well. Pete was by now working a dangerous, stressful job—brakeman– for the Pennsylvania Railroad, but would still visit Walt daily before his evening shift, nursing him while there. Walt took the precaution of making out a will, in which Pete was the only non- family member included. In 1874, Walt forfeited his Washington job, and broke the news to Pete that his move to Camden would be permanent. In 1875 another stroke affected Walt’s right side. For the next two decades, Pete and Walt continued to correspond, and Pete continued to visit regularly, but they began to see less of each other. In 1876, Walt met another working class youth, Harry Stafford, a Camden New Republic office clerk in his twenties. Harry became Walt’s new “darling boy.” Stafford’s parents considered Walt a “good influence.” Whitman began to spend time at the family’s farm near Timber Creek, about ten miles from Camden. Walt’s letters told Pete about the farm, but not about Harry. Like Fred Vaughan before him, Harry would marry in 1884, but he and Walt would remain friends. After Pete’s mother Catherine passed away in 1885, Pete relocated to Philadelphia. Though Pete and Walt remained in touch till 1889, no correspondence exists from between 1881 and 1886, as they saw each other frequently. In 1888, Walt suffered another stroke and became severely ill. He would live four more years, during which he would publish “November Boughs,” “Goodbye My Fancy,” and the so-called “Deathbed Edition” of Leaves of Grass. Pete would be mysteriously absent for most of this time. Whitman speculated to friend Horace Traubel that Pete “must have got another lay.” On New Year’s Day, 1892, Walt revised his will to exclude Pete, who he presumed was dead. But before Walt passed, Pete did visit him again, and explained the reasons for his absence. In an interview, Pete recalled “In the old days I had always open doors to Walt – going, coming, staying as I chose. Now, I had to run the gauntlet of Mrs. Davis (Walt’s housekeeper at his own new Mickle Street home) and a nurse and whatnot….Then I had a mad impulse to go over and nurse him. I was his proper nurse – he understood me — I understood him. We loved each other deeply….I should have gone to see him, at least, in spite of everything, I know it now…but it’s all right. Walt realized I never swerved from him – he knows it now. That is enough.” Walt, 73, died of tuberculosis on March 26, 1892. Pete viewed the body, and attended the funeral. He remained part of Walt’s surviving circle of friends until his own passing at 63 in 1907 from uremia (kidney disease.) The most substantial documentation of their relationship is a collection of letters Walt sent to Pete from 1868-1880, published in 1897 by their mutual friend, psychiatrist/author Richard Maurice Bucke, as “The Calamus Letters.” “Calamus” poems are interspersed between letters in the book. The book included Bucke’s revealing interview with Doyle, which Henry James would call “the most charming passage in the volume“ in his 1898 review. From Doyle’s interview with Bucke, conducted after Whitman’s death: “I have Walt’s raglan here. Now and then I put it on, lay down… Then he is with me again… I do not ever for a minute lose the old man. He is always nearby…in a crisis, I ask myself, ‘What would Walt do?’ –and whatever I decide Walt would do, that I do."
Gay History Project: Walt Whitman and Peter Doyle
Walt Whitman, best known as the father of modern poetry and American poetry, was also the longtime lover of Peter Doyle, son of a blacksmith, a former Rebel soldier who worked as a streetcar conductor. They were often affectionate in public; both their families, and all Whitman’s friends,.. knew about their relationship. Doyle was a conspicuous influence on many of Whitman’s works. The couple first met on a Washington, DC streetcar in 1865, on a stormy winter night toward the close of the Civil War. Whitman was 45; Doyle, 21. Doyle thought his bearded only passenger, a blanket over his shoulders, looked “like an old sea captain.” “I thought I would go and talk to him,” Doyle said in an interview. “Something in me made me do it. He used to say there was something in me had the same effect on him…We were familiar at once. I put my hand on his knee …from that time on we were the biggest sort of friends.” Whitman was a burly six feet tall; Doyle, a slender five foot eight. Their differences extended beyond the physical. Whitman was a government clerk, journalist, and a published poet; Doyle, a workingman supporting his widowed mother and younger siblings. Whitman prided himself on patriotism; his brother George was a Union soldier, and he’d spent the last two years nursing the wounded in Washington’s army hospitals. Doyle had been a Confederate artilleryman, who’d obtained release from federal prison by claiming to be a British subject (born in Limerick, Ireland, he and his family emigrated here when he was a child). Pete and Walt were living proof that opposites attract. They were a familiar sight on Washington streetcars and at the bar in Georgetown’s Union Hotel. A favorite pastime was to hike along the Potomac River in Maryland, take the ferry to Virginia, and then hike back along the river on the Virginia side. They were unable to live together due to Pete’s obligations to his dependent family, though Walt wanted to settle down with Pete and brought it up repeatedly. But each man was warmly embraced by the other’s family. Pete would fondly recall dinners at the Whitmans’: “After we had our dinner she (Walt’s mother) would always say, ‘Now take a long walk to aid digestion.’ Mrs. Whitman was a lovely woman.” After Whitman’s first stroke in 1873, his mother wrote to Walt to express her confidence in Pete: “I knew if it was in his power he would cheerfully do everything he could for you.” Pete lived up to her expectations, nursing Walt for months. The Doyles also counted on Walt for whatever help he could offer, including recommending Pete’s brother Edward for a job with the Treasury Department, and lobbying newspapers to protect Pete’s older brother, policeman Francis, from sensationalized accounts of brutality. Walt considered Pete’s mother Catherine, brothers James, Francis — and younger brother Edward, and sister Margaret, who lived with Pete — dear friends. Doyle would have a lasting impact on Whitman’s work. For one thing, Doyle – who was present at Lincoln’s assassination – would shape Whitman’s writings about that tragic event. Doyle had gone to the performance of “My American Cousin” in Ford’s Theater on April 14, 1865, because he’d heard the Lincolns would be there. He heard the shot and saw John Wilkes Booth leap from Lincoln’s box to the stage, but didn’t know Lincoln was dead until he heard Mary Todd Lincoln cry out, “the President has been shot!” He was so stunned that he was one of the last to leave the theater, ordered out by a policeman. Lincoln had been one of Walt’s heroes, though they had never met. Walt, a friend of the President’s former secretary John Hay, had seen Lincoln in person numerous times. He’d written, “I never see the man without feeling that he is one to become personally attached to.” Walt would use Pete’s account in Specimen Days, Memoranda During The War, and lectures. Pete also affected Whitman’s most popular Lincoln poem “O Captain! My Captain!” Doyle came to America with his mother and three brothers on the William Patten in 1852; the ship nearly wrecked in a storm on Good Friday, also the day of Lincoln’s assassination. Whitman knew this. The poem memorializes Lincoln as a ship’s captain, who died while guiding his vessel safely to port through a storm. The poem, unlike most of Whitman’s, is metered and rhymed. During their walks, Doyle would often quote Limericks to Whitman; the poem’s extant first draft is in free verse, so he likely revised it to impress Doyle. Another poem written around the same time, “Come Up From The Fields Father,” is the only time Whitman ever identified a protagonist with a personal name — Pete. Pete could not have inspired “Calamus,” the notorious series of homoerotic poems published in 1860. (The controversial poems had gotten Whitman fired from his Department of the Interior job, but well-connected Walt quickly got a similar job in the Attorney General’s office.) Doyle did, however, affect Whitman’s decision to excise three of these poems from the 1867 edition of “Leaves Of Grass”. The three expressed despair over Whitman’s earlier failed relationship with another Irishman, Fred Vaughan, who married after splitting from him. Pete also figured prominently in Walt’s private notebooks, particularly passages cited by some scholars as the most convincing proof of Whitman’s gay sexuality. In the summer of 1870 Whitman began to suspect that Pete did not return his love. He wrote feverishly, vowing “TO GIVE UP ABSOLUTELY …this …USELESS UNDIGNIFIED PURSUIT OF 16.4.” 16 and four are the numeric locations of the initials P.D. in the alphabet. Walt also obviously later erased the “im” in “him” and replaced it with “er” in these entries. But before Walt left to visit his family later that summer, Pete confessed his love, ending Walt’s ambivalence. In a July 30 letter, Walt enthused, “I never dreamed that you made so much of having me with you, nor that you should feel so downcast at losing me.” Soon afterward, when Pete griped about his job, Walt wrote promising “a good smacking kiss, many of them – taking in return many, many from my dear son – good loving ones too.” Their relationship remained intense during Walt’s years in Washington. But Walt suffered a stroke in 1873, which impaired his left arm and leg. He went to live with his brother George in Camden, N.J., considering the arrangement temporary. Walt’s beloved mother died that same year, taking an emotional toll on him as well. Pete was by now working a dangerous, stressful job—brakeman– for the Pennsylvania Railroad, but would still visit Walt daily before his evening shift, nursing him while there. Walt took the precaution of making out a will, in which Pete was the only non- family member included. In 1874, Walt forfeited his Washington job, and broke the news to Pete that his move to Camden would be permanent. In 1875 another stroke affected Walt’s right side. For the next two decades, Pete and Walt continued to correspond, and Pete continued to visit regularly, but they began to see less of each other. In 1876, Walt met another working class youth, Harry Stafford, a Camden New Republic office clerk in his twenties. Harry became Walt’s new “darling boy.” Stafford’s parents considered Walt a “good influence.” Whitman began to spend time at the family’s farm near Timber Creek, about ten miles from Camden. Walt’s letters told Pete about the farm, but not about Harry. Like Fred Vaughan before him, Harry would marry in 1884, but he and Walt would remain friends. After Pete’s mother Catherine passed away in 1885, Pete relocated to Philadelphia. Though Pete and Walt remained in touch till 1889, no correspondence exists from between 1881 and 1886, as they saw each other frequently. In 1888, Walt suffered another stroke and became severely ill. He would live four more years, during which he would publish “November Boughs,” “Goodbye My Fancy,” and the so-called “Deathbed Edition” of Leaves of Grass. Pete would be mysteriously absent for most of this time. Whitman speculated to friend Horace Traubel that Pete “must have got another lay.” On New Year’s Day, 1892, Walt revised his will to exclude Pete, who he presumed was dead. But before Walt passed, Pete did visit him again, and explained the reasons for his absence. In an interview, Pete recalled “In the old days I had always open doors to Walt – going, coming, staying as I chose. Now, I had to run the gauntlet of Mrs. Davis (Walt’s housekeeper at his own new Mickle Street home) and a nurse and whatnot….Then I had a mad impulse to go over and nurse him. I was his proper nurse – he understood me — I understood him. We loved each other deeply….I should have gone to see him, at least, in spite of everything, I know it now…but it’s all right. Walt realized I never swerved from him – he knows it now. That is enough.” Walt, 73, died of tuberculosis on March 26, 1892. Pete viewed the body, and attended the funeral. He remained part of Walt’s surviving circle of friends until his own passing at 63 in 1907 from uremia (kidney disease.) The most substantial documentation of their relationship is a collection of letters Walt sent to Pete from 1868-1880, published in 1897 by their mutual friend, psychiatrist/author Richard Maurice Bucke, as “The Calamus Letters.” “Calamus” poems are interspersed between letters in the book. The book included Bucke’s revealing interview with Doyle, which Henry James would call “the most charming passage in the volume“ in his 1898 review. From Doyle’s interview with Bucke, conducted after Whitman’s death: “I have Walt’s raglan here. Now and then I put it on, lay down… Then he is with me again… I do not ever for a minute lose the old man. He is always nearby…in a crisis, I ask myself, ‘What would Walt do?’ –and whatever I decide Walt would do, that I do."
Gay History Project: Walt Whitman and Peter Doyle
Walt Whitman, best known as the father of modern poetry and American poetry, was also the longtime lover of Peter Doyle, son of a blacksmith, a former Rebel soldier who worked as a streetcar conductor. They were often affectionate in public; both their families, and all Whitman’s friends,.. knew about their relationship. Doyle was a conspicuous influence on many of Whitman’s works. The couple first met on a Washington, DC streetcar in 1865, on a stormy winter night toward the close of the Civil War. Whitman was 45; Doyle, 21. Doyle thought his bearded only passenger, a blanket over his shoulders, looked “like an old sea captain.” “I thought I would go and talk to him,” Doyle said in an interview. “Something in me made me do it. He used to say there was something in me had the same effect on him…We were familiar at once. I put my hand on his knee …from that time on we were the biggest sort of friends.” Whitman was a burly six feet tall; Doyle, a slender five foot eight. Their differences extended beyond the physical. Whitman was a government clerk, journalist, and a published poet; Doyle, a workingman supporting his widowed mother and younger siblings. Whitman prided himself on patriotism; his brother George was a Union soldier, and he’d spent the last two years nursing the wounded in Washington’s army hospitals. Doyle had been a Confederate artilleryman, who’d obtained release from federal prison by claiming to be a British subject (born in Limerick, Ireland, he and his family emigrated here when he was a child). Pete and Walt were living proof that opposites attract. They were a familiar sight on Washington streetcars and at the bar in Georgetown’s Union Hotel. A favorite pastime was to hike along the Potomac River in Maryland, take the ferry to Virginia, and then hike back along the river on the Virginia side. They were unable to live together due to Pete’s obligations to his dependent family, though Walt wanted to settle down with Pete and brought it up repeatedly. But each man was warmly embraced by the other’s family. Pete would fondly recall dinners at the Whitmans’: “After we had our dinner she (Walt’s mother) would always say, ‘Now take a long walk to aid digestion.’ Mrs. Whitman was a lovely woman.” After Whitman’s first stroke in 1873, his mother wrote to Walt to express her confidence in Pete: “I knew if it was in his power he would cheerfully do everything he could for you.” Pete lived up to her expectations, nursing Walt for months. The Doyles also counted on Walt for whatever help he could offer, including recommending Pete’s brother Edward for a job with the Treasury Department, and lobbying newspapers to protect Pete’s older brother, policeman Francis, from sensationalized accounts of brutality. Walt considered Pete’s mother Catherine, brothers James, Francis — and younger brother Edward, and sister Margaret, who lived with Pete — dear friends. Doyle would have a lasting impact on Whitman’s work. For one thing, Doyle – who was present at Lincoln’s assassination – would shape Whitman’s writings about that tragic event. Doyle had gone to the performance of “My American Cousin” in Ford’s Theater on April 14, 1865, because he’d heard the Lincolns would be there. He heard the shot and saw John Wilkes Booth leap from Lincoln’s box to the stage, but didn’t know Lincoln was dead until he heard Mary Todd Lincoln cry out, “the President has been shot!” He was so stunned that he was one of the last to leave the theater, ordered out by a policeman. Lincoln had been one of Walt’s heroes, though they had never met. Walt, a friend of the President’s former secretary John Hay, had seen Lincoln in person numerous times. He’d written, “I never see the man without feeling that he is one to become personally attached to.” Walt would use Pete’s account in Specimen Days, Memoranda During The War, and lectures. Pete also affected Whitman’s most popular Lincoln poem “O Captain! My Captain!” Doyle came to America with his mother and three brothers on the William Patten in 1852; the ship nearly wrecked in a storm on Good Friday, also the day of Lincoln’s assassination. Whitman knew this. The poem memorializes Lincoln as a ship’s captain, who died while guiding his vessel safely to port through a storm. The poem, unlike most of Whitman’s, is metered and rhymed. During their walks, Doyle would often quote Limericks to Whitman; the poem’s extant first draft is in free verse, so he likely revised it to impress Doyle. Another poem written around the same time, “Come Up From The Fields Father,” is the only time Whitman ever identified a protagonist with a personal name — Pete. Pete could not have inspired “Calamus,” the notorious series of homoerotic poems published in 1860. (The controversial poems had gotten Whitman fired from his Department of the Interior job, but well-connected Walt quickly got a similar job in the Attorney General’s office.) Doyle did, however, affect Whitman’s decision to excise three of these poems from the 1867 edition of “Leaves Of Grass”. The three expressed despair over Whitman’s earlier failed relationship with another Irishman, Fred Vaughan, who married after splitting from him. Pete also figured prominently in Walt’s private notebooks, particularly passages cited by some scholars as the most convincing proof of Whitman’s gay sexuality. In the summer of 1870 Whitman began to suspect that Pete did not return his love. He wrote feverishly, vowing “TO GIVE UP ABSOLUTELY …this …USELESS UNDIGNIFIED PURSUIT OF 16.4.” 16 and four are the numeric locations of the initials P.D. in the alphabet. Walt also obviously later erased the “im” in “him” and replaced it with “er” in these entries. But before Walt left to visit his family later that summer, Pete confessed his love, ending Walt’s ambivalence. In a July 30 letter, Walt enthused, “I never dreamed that you made so much of having me with you, nor that you should feel so downcast at losing me.” Soon afterward, when Pete griped about his job, Walt wrote promising “a good smacking kiss, many of them – taking in return many, many from my dear son – good loving ones too.” Their relationship remained intense during Walt’s years in Washington. But Walt suffered a stroke in 1873, which impaired his left arm and leg. He went to live with his brother George in Camden, N.J., considering the arrangement temporary. Walt’s beloved mother died that same year, taking an emotional toll on him as well. Pete was by now working a dangerous, stressful job—brakeman– for the Pennsylvania Railroad, but would still visit Walt daily before his evening shift, nursing him while there. Walt took the precaution of making out a will, in which Pete was the only non- family member included. In 1874, Walt forfeited his Washington job, and broke the news to Pete that his move to Camden would be permanent. In 1875 another stroke affected Walt’s right side. For the next two decades, Pete and Walt continued to correspond, and Pete continued to visit regularly, but they began to see less of each other. In 1876, Walt met another working class youth, Harry Stafford, a Camden New Republic office clerk in his twenties. Harry became Walt’s new “darling boy.” Stafford’s parents considered Walt a “good influence.” Whitman began to spend time at the family’s farm near Timber Creek, about ten miles from Camden. Walt’s letters told Pete about the farm, but not about Harry. Like Fred Vaughan before him, Harry would marry in 1884, but he and Walt would remain friends. After Pete’s mother Catherine passed away in 1885, Pete relocated to Philadelphia. Though Pete and Walt remained in touch till 1889, no correspondence exists from between 1881 and 1886, as they saw each other frequently. In 1888, Walt suffered another stroke and became severely ill. He would live four more years, during which he would publish “November Boughs,” “Goodbye My Fancy,” and the so-called “Deathbed Edition” of Leaves of Grass. Pete would be mysteriously absent for most of this time. Whitman speculated to friend Horace Traubel that Pete “must have got another lay.” On New Year’s Day, 1892, Walt revised his will to exclude Pete, who he presumed was dead. But before Walt passed, Pete did visit him again, and explained the reasons for his absence. In an interview, Pete recalled “In the old days I had always open doors to Walt – going, coming, staying as I chose. Now, I had to run the gauntlet of Mrs. Davis (Walt’s housekeeper at his own new Mickle Street home) and a nurse and whatnot….Then I had a mad impulse to go over and nurse him. I was his proper nurse – he understood me — I understood him. We loved each other deeply….I should have gone to see him, at least, in spite of everything, I know it now…but it’s all right. Walt realized I never swerved from him – he knows it now. That is enough.” Walt, 73, died of tuberculosis on March 26, 1892. Pete viewed the body, and attended the funeral. He remained part of Walt’s surviving circle of friends until his own passing at 63 in 1907 from uremia (kidney disease.) The most substantial documentation of their relationship is a collection of letters Walt sent to Pete from 1868-1880, published in 1897 by their mutual friend, psychiatrist/author Richard Maurice Bucke, as “The Calamus Letters.” “Calamus” poems are interspersed between letters in the book. The book included Bucke’s revealing interview with Doyle, which Henry James would call “the most charming passage in the volume“ in his 1898 review. From Doyle’s interview with Bucke, conducted after Whitman’s death: “I have Walt’s raglan here. Now and then I put it on, lay down… Then he is with me again… I do not ever for a minute lose the old man. He is always nearby…in a crisis, I ask myself, ‘What would Walt do?’ –and whatever I decide Walt would do, that I do."
Gay News/ Gay blog|
Marriage Equality on Agenda as Paterson Calls for 'Extraordinary Session' on November 10
"Paterson wants what is technically called an extraordinary session on Nov. 10 that would address the deficit and take on unfinished business... The regular session ended in June. The special session is expected to include a possible vote by the Senate to give final legislative approval to a same-sex marriage bill. Paterson has predicted the bill will be passed and signed into law in coming weeks. Paterson also is asking legislative leaders to call a rare joint session of the Legislature on Nov. 9, where he plans to address the Senate and Assembly on the need to act on the deficit and reduce spending. The governor also has scheduled a public meeting with legislative leaders Thursday in New York City."http://www.towleroad.com/2009/10/marriage-equality-on-agenda-as-paterson-calls-for-extraordinary-session-on-november-10.html
"Paterson wants what is technically called an extraordinary session on Nov. 10 that would address the deficit and take on unfinished business... The regular session ended in June. The special session is expected to include a possible vote by the Senate to give final legislative approval to a same-sex marriage bill. Paterson has predicted the bill will be passed and signed into law in coming weeks. Paterson also is asking legislative leaders to call a rare joint session of the Legislature on Nov. 9, where he plans to address the Senate and Assembly on the need to act on the deficit and reduce spending. The governor also has scheduled a public meeting with legislative leaders Thursday in New York City."http://www.towleroad.com/2009/10/marriage-equality-on-agenda-as-paterson-calls-for-extraordinary-session-on-november-10.html
Gay News/ Gay blog|
Marriage Equality on Agenda as Paterson Calls for 'Extraordinary Session' on November 10
"Paterson wants what is technically called an extraordinary session on Nov. 10 that would address the deficit and take on unfinished business... The regular session ended in June. The special session is expected to include a possible vote by the Senate to give final legislative approval to a same-sex marriage bill. Paterson has predicted the bill will be passed and signed into law in coming weeks. Paterson also is asking legislative leaders to call a rare joint session of the Legislature on Nov. 9, where he plans to address the Senate and Assembly on the need to act on the deficit and reduce spending. The governor also has scheduled a public meeting with legislative leaders Thursday in New York City."http://www.towleroad.com/2009/10/marriage-equality-on-agenda-as-paterson-calls-for-extraordinary-session-on-november-10.html
"Paterson wants what is technically called an extraordinary session on Nov. 10 that would address the deficit and take on unfinished business... The regular session ended in June. The special session is expected to include a possible vote by the Senate to give final legislative approval to a same-sex marriage bill. Paterson has predicted the bill will be passed and signed into law in coming weeks. Paterson also is asking legislative leaders to call a rare joint session of the Legislature on Nov. 9, where he plans to address the Senate and Assembly on the need to act on the deficit and reduce spending. The governor also has scheduled a public meeting with legislative leaders Thursday in New York City."http://www.towleroad.com/2009/10/marriage-equality-on-agenda-as-paterson-calls-for-extraordinary-session-on-november-10.html
Gay News/ Gay blog|
Marriage Equality on Agenda as Paterson Calls for 'Extraordinary Session' on November 10
"Paterson wants what is technically called an extraordinary session on Nov. 10 that would address the deficit and take on unfinished business... The regular session ended in June. The special session is expected to include a possible vote by the Senate to give final legislative approval to a same-sex marriage bill. Paterson has predicted the bill will be passed and signed into law in coming weeks. Paterson also is asking legislative leaders to call a rare joint session of the Legislature on Nov. 9, where he plans to address the Senate and Assembly on the need to act on the deficit and reduce spending. The governor also has scheduled a public meeting with legislative leaders Thursday in New York City."http://www.towleroad.com/2009/10/marriage-equality-on-agenda-as-paterson-calls-for-extraordinary-session-on-november-10.html
"Paterson wants what is technically called an extraordinary session on Nov. 10 that would address the deficit and take on unfinished business... The regular session ended in June. The special session is expected to include a possible vote by the Senate to give final legislative approval to a same-sex marriage bill. Paterson has predicted the bill will be passed and signed into law in coming weeks. Paterson also is asking legislative leaders to call a rare joint session of the Legislature on Nov. 9, where he plans to address the Senate and Assembly on the need to act on the deficit and reduce spending. The governor also has scheduled a public meeting with legislative leaders Thursday in New York City."http://www.towleroad.com/2009/10/marriage-equality-on-agenda-as-paterson-calls-for-extraordinary-session-on-november-10.html
Sentenced for insulting gay Pole
In Poland a 44-year old woman was sentenced to pay a fine of 3.645 euro for offending her homosexual neighbor. Ryszard Giersza (25) was pummeled with bricks and tomatoes after the woman had called him a faggot in public.
In his ruling the judge said that ‘everybody has the right to a protected private life’, which is seen as an important breakthrough by Polish gay organizations. It’s the first time a gay person has fought back after being insulted like that.
Ryszard Giersza was first faced with harassment in February 2009 after his boyfriend had moved in with him in the little town of Wolina in the North West of Poland. “The faggot has brought another faggot with him,” his neighbor had said in the village shop. The insults were a nasty surprise because before no one knew of his homosexuality. After this, he and his friend were abused, threatened, and beaten up. Giersza also lost his job. Judge Urszula Chmielewska explained the high fine saying the neighbor “should really feel the punishment.”
Next to paying the fine the neighbor should also really change her behavior, the judge said. The neighbor also has to pay for the trial costs of about a thousand euros. The unemployed neighbor stated that all witnesses lied during the court case, she doesn’t feel guilty and announced she was going to appeal.
“I’m very happy,” said Giersza yesterday after the ruling was made public, with tears in his eyes. “I’m a normal person and I just want to live quietly with my partner. The last six months have ruined us. I’m very happy we started this trial, it was worth it. I hope it will be an example for others.”
The Polish gay activist Robert Biedron was relieved that the judge didn’t treat Giersza as a ‘second rate citizen’. “If a judge doesn’t do that, perhaps society will stop doing that too.”
more infor from: http://www.gay-news.com/article04.php?sid=2647
In his ruling the judge said that ‘everybody has the right to a protected private life’, which is seen as an important breakthrough by Polish gay organizations. It’s the first time a gay person has fought back after being insulted like that.
Ryszard Giersza was first faced with harassment in February 2009 after his boyfriend had moved in with him in the little town of Wolina in the North West of Poland. “The faggot has brought another faggot with him,” his neighbor had said in the village shop. The insults were a nasty surprise because before no one knew of his homosexuality. After this, he and his friend were abused, threatened, and beaten up. Giersza also lost his job. Judge Urszula Chmielewska explained the high fine saying the neighbor “should really feel the punishment.”
Next to paying the fine the neighbor should also really change her behavior, the judge said. The neighbor also has to pay for the trial costs of about a thousand euros. The unemployed neighbor stated that all witnesses lied during the court case, she doesn’t feel guilty and announced she was going to appeal.
“I’m very happy,” said Giersza yesterday after the ruling was made public, with tears in his eyes. “I’m a normal person and I just want to live quietly with my partner. The last six months have ruined us. I’m very happy we started this trial, it was worth it. I hope it will be an example for others.”
The Polish gay activist Robert Biedron was relieved that the judge didn’t treat Giersza as a ‘second rate citizen’. “If a judge doesn’t do that, perhaps society will stop doing that too.”
more infor from: http://www.gay-news.com/article04.php?sid=2647
Sentenced for insulting gay Pole
In Poland a 44-year old woman was sentenced to pay a fine of 3.645 euro for offending her homosexual neighbor. Ryszard Giersza (25) was pummeled with bricks and tomatoes after the woman had called him a faggot in public.
In his ruling the judge said that ‘everybody has the right to a protected private life’, which is seen as an important breakthrough by Polish gay organizations. It’s the first time a gay person has fought back after being insulted like that.
Ryszard Giersza was first faced with harassment in February 2009 after his boyfriend had moved in with him in the little town of Wolina in the North West of Poland. “The faggot has brought another faggot with him,” his neighbor had said in the village shop. The insults were a nasty surprise because before no one knew of his homosexuality. After this, he and his friend were abused, threatened, and beaten up. Giersza also lost his job. Judge Urszula Chmielewska explained the high fine saying the neighbor “should really feel the punishment.”
Next to paying the fine the neighbor should also really change her behavior, the judge said. The neighbor also has to pay for the trial costs of about a thousand euros. The unemployed neighbor stated that all witnesses lied during the court case, she doesn’t feel guilty and announced she was going to appeal.
“I’m very happy,” said Giersza yesterday after the ruling was made public, with tears in his eyes. “I’m a normal person and I just want to live quietly with my partner. The last six months have ruined us. I’m very happy we started this trial, it was worth it. I hope it will be an example for others.”
The Polish gay activist Robert Biedron was relieved that the judge didn’t treat Giersza as a ‘second rate citizen’. “If a judge doesn’t do that, perhaps society will stop doing that too.”
more infor from: http://www.gay-news.com/article04.php?sid=2647
In his ruling the judge said that ‘everybody has the right to a protected private life’, which is seen as an important breakthrough by Polish gay organizations. It’s the first time a gay person has fought back after being insulted like that.
Ryszard Giersza was first faced with harassment in February 2009 after his boyfriend had moved in with him in the little town of Wolina in the North West of Poland. “The faggot has brought another faggot with him,” his neighbor had said in the village shop. The insults were a nasty surprise because before no one knew of his homosexuality. After this, he and his friend were abused, threatened, and beaten up. Giersza also lost his job. Judge Urszula Chmielewska explained the high fine saying the neighbor “should really feel the punishment.”
Next to paying the fine the neighbor should also really change her behavior, the judge said. The neighbor also has to pay for the trial costs of about a thousand euros. The unemployed neighbor stated that all witnesses lied during the court case, she doesn’t feel guilty and announced she was going to appeal.
“I’m very happy,” said Giersza yesterday after the ruling was made public, with tears in his eyes. “I’m a normal person and I just want to live quietly with my partner. The last six months have ruined us. I’m very happy we started this trial, it was worth it. I hope it will be an example for others.”
The Polish gay activist Robert Biedron was relieved that the judge didn’t treat Giersza as a ‘second rate citizen’. “If a judge doesn’t do that, perhaps society will stop doing that too.”
more infor from: http://www.gay-news.com/article04.php?sid=2647
Sentenced for insulting gay Pole
In Poland a 44-year old woman was sentenced to pay a fine of 3.645 euro for offending her homosexual neighbor. Ryszard Giersza (25) was pummeled with bricks and tomatoes after the woman had called him a faggot in public.
In his ruling the judge said that ‘everybody has the right to a protected private life’, which is seen as an important breakthrough by Polish gay organizations. It’s the first time a gay person has fought back after being insulted like that.
Ryszard Giersza was first faced with harassment in February 2009 after his boyfriend had moved in with him in the little town of Wolina in the North West of Poland. “The faggot has brought another faggot with him,” his neighbor had said in the village shop. The insults were a nasty surprise because before no one knew of his homosexuality. After this, he and his friend were abused, threatened, and beaten up. Giersza also lost his job. Judge Urszula Chmielewska explained the high fine saying the neighbor “should really feel the punishment.”
Next to paying the fine the neighbor should also really change her behavior, the judge said. The neighbor also has to pay for the trial costs of about a thousand euros. The unemployed neighbor stated that all witnesses lied during the court case, she doesn’t feel guilty and announced she was going to appeal.
“I’m very happy,” said Giersza yesterday after the ruling was made public, with tears in his eyes. “I’m a normal person and I just want to live quietly with my partner. The last six months have ruined us. I’m very happy we started this trial, it was worth it. I hope it will be an example for others.”
The Polish gay activist Robert Biedron was relieved that the judge didn’t treat Giersza as a ‘second rate citizen’. “If a judge doesn’t do that, perhaps society will stop doing that too.”
more infor from: http://www.gay-news.com/article04.php?sid=2647
In his ruling the judge said that ‘everybody has the right to a protected private life’, which is seen as an important breakthrough by Polish gay organizations. It’s the first time a gay person has fought back after being insulted like that.
Ryszard Giersza was first faced with harassment in February 2009 after his boyfriend had moved in with him in the little town of Wolina in the North West of Poland. “The faggot has brought another faggot with him,” his neighbor had said in the village shop. The insults were a nasty surprise because before no one knew of his homosexuality. After this, he and his friend were abused, threatened, and beaten up. Giersza also lost his job. Judge Urszula Chmielewska explained the high fine saying the neighbor “should really feel the punishment.”
Next to paying the fine the neighbor should also really change her behavior, the judge said. The neighbor also has to pay for the trial costs of about a thousand euros. The unemployed neighbor stated that all witnesses lied during the court case, she doesn’t feel guilty and announced she was going to appeal.
“I’m very happy,” said Giersza yesterday after the ruling was made public, with tears in his eyes. “I’m a normal person and I just want to live quietly with my partner. The last six months have ruined us. I’m very happy we started this trial, it was worth it. I hope it will be an example for others.”
The Polish gay activist Robert Biedron was relieved that the judge didn’t treat Giersza as a ‘second rate citizen’. “If a judge doesn’t do that, perhaps society will stop doing that too.”
more infor from: http://www.gay-news.com/article04.php?sid=2647
Obama Nominates Openly Gay Ambassador
An official from President Obama’s administration has announced the President plans to nominate David Huebner, an openly gay lawyer as the U.S. ambassador to New Zealand and American Samoa.
If confirmed by the Senate, Huebner will become the administration’s first openly gay ambassador. Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush both had openly gay ambassadors during their terms as well.
If confirmed by the Senate, Huebner will become the administration’s first openly gay ambassador. Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush both had openly gay ambassadors during their terms as well.
Obama Nominates Openly Gay Ambassador
An official from President Obama’s administration has announced the President plans to nominate David Huebner, an openly gay lawyer as the U.S. ambassador to New Zealand and American Samoa.
If confirmed by the Senate, Huebner will become the administration’s first openly gay ambassador. Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush both had openly gay ambassadors during their terms as well.
If confirmed by the Senate, Huebner will become the administration’s first openly gay ambassador. Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush both had openly gay ambassadors during their terms as well.
Obama Nominates Openly Gay Ambassador
An official from President Obama’s administration has announced the President plans to nominate David Huebner, an openly gay lawyer as the U.S. ambassador to New Zealand and American Samoa.
If confirmed by the Senate, Huebner will become the administration’s first openly gay ambassador. Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush both had openly gay ambassadors during their terms as well.
If confirmed by the Senate, Huebner will become the administration’s first openly gay ambassador. Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush both had openly gay ambassadors during their terms as well.
Gay History Project: H.D.
The bisexual poet H.D., whose full name was Hilda Doolittle, was born on Sept. 10, 1886, in Bethlehem, Pa., to a wealthy upper- middleclass family. A contemporary of the American poet Ezra Pound, with whom she was involved at one point, she became a great Imagist poet, who at the end of her writing career broke with strict Imagism. She received literary awards including the Gold Medal from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and, later in life, the Brandeis and Longview Awards.
Hilda attended the Ivy League women’s college Bryn Mawr, but dropped out and moved to England in 1911. Her romance with Ezra Pound had ended, but he introduced her to London's avant garde literary circles. She married the novelist Richard Aldington in 1913.
The Imagist poets believed in direct treatment of the subject, allowing no inessential words and following the musical phrase rather than strict, traditional regularity in their rhythms. H.D.'s first published poems appeared in the journal Poetry in January 1913.
H.D. was fascinated by ancient Greek culture, and now she began to travel throughout Europe and saw Greece for the first time. Her poetry appeared in the English Review, the Transatlantic Review, and the Egoist. She also began an intense but non-sexual relationship with novelist D.H. Lawrence, and her marriage became troubled. (Her novel "Bid Me to Live" is largely about this time.)
She lived downstairs from her husband's mistress, and was introduced to a friend of the Lawrences, Cecil Gray, who became the father of her daughter, Frances Perdita, named for H.D.'s first great love and lifelong friend, Frances Gregg, and for the lost daughter of Hermione in Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale. The birth left H.D. very ill, but a woman named Bryher came to her rescue.
Bryher, born Annie Winifred Ellerman, met H.D. on July 17, 1918 in Cornwall. She took the name Bryher from one of the fabled Scilly Isles, located to the west of Cornwall and site of many ancient legends and megalithic stone monuments. A wealthy heiress who was also a writer, her friendship with H.D. blossomed into love. They were lifelong companions, although often maintaining separate residences and their independence. They travelled together and kept their relationship throughout their other affairs, and throughout Bryher's marriages to Robert McAlmon and Kenneth Macpherson.
The two women moved to Paris, mingling with the expatriate literary community. After Bryher's marriage to McAlmon ended, and the one to Macpherson began, they were drawn into the world of film. Bryher and Macpherson began POOL Productions and the film magazine Close-Up. H.D. appeared in the POOL films productions Foothills (1927) and Borderline (1930), which received their most enthusiastic reception in Germany.
H.D. and Bryher lived at this time in Kenwin, the Bauhaus home Bryher had built near Riant Chateau in Switzerland. H.D. sought out analysis, and Bryher, an early supporter of psychoanalysis, arranged for Dr. Hanns Sachs and Havelock Ellis to recommend H.D. to Sigmund Freud. H.D. referred to herself as Freud's pupil, and he referred to her as his analysand, during 1933 and 1934. H.D. later wrote "Tribute to Freud" as a fictionalized memoir of this period.
Her interests at this time also included mysticism, Hellenic studies, Egyptology, and astrology. Her long poem “Helen in Egypt” reflected those interests. She and Bryher were able to get to London when World War II broke out; Bryher barely escaped Switzerland before helping over a hundred refugees to homes in other countries.
The years during World War II were very productive for H.D. She and Bryher lived together during this time. H.D. became very interested in spiritualism, and her poetry began to strain at the boundaries of Imagism. "The Walls Do Not Fall," the first part of "Trilogy," was her break with Imagism.
After the war, H.D. suffered a mental breakdown, and returned to Switzerland. She lived at Kusnacht, a clinic, and various hotels. She was now 60, yet was experiencing the most prolific writing years of her life. Her book “Hermetic Definition” (1972, New Directions) contains the angel-haunted poems of her old age. Other books include “Selected Poems of H.D.” (1957, Grove Press) and “Trilogy” (1973, New Directions).
In July 1961 she suffered a stroke and died on Sept. 21, 1961. She was buried on Nisky Hill, in Bethlehem, Pa., among her family. She was survived by Bryher, her daughter and son-in-law, her grandchildren and many other family members and friends.
H. Hernandez writes, “Her gravestone lies flat in Nisky Hill Cemetery… and usually has sea shells on it, left in tribute. It bears lines from her poem ‘Epitaph’:
…So you may say,
Greek flower;
Greek ecstasy
reclaims forever
one who died
following intricate song's
lost measure.
H.D.”
Hilda attended the Ivy League women’s college Bryn Mawr, but dropped out and moved to England in 1911. Her romance with Ezra Pound had ended, but he introduced her to London's avant garde literary circles. She married the novelist Richard Aldington in 1913.
The Imagist poets believed in direct treatment of the subject, allowing no inessential words and following the musical phrase rather than strict, traditional regularity in their rhythms. H.D.'s first published poems appeared in the journal Poetry in January 1913.
H.D. was fascinated by ancient Greek culture, and now she began to travel throughout Europe and saw Greece for the first time. Her poetry appeared in the English Review, the Transatlantic Review, and the Egoist. She also began an intense but non-sexual relationship with novelist D.H. Lawrence, and her marriage became troubled. (Her novel "Bid Me to Live" is largely about this time.)
She lived downstairs from her husband's mistress, and was introduced to a friend of the Lawrences, Cecil Gray, who became the father of her daughter, Frances Perdita, named for H.D.'s first great love and lifelong friend, Frances Gregg, and for the lost daughter of Hermione in Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale. The birth left H.D. very ill, but a woman named Bryher came to her rescue.
Bryher, born Annie Winifred Ellerman, met H.D. on July 17, 1918 in Cornwall. She took the name Bryher from one of the fabled Scilly Isles, located to the west of Cornwall and site of many ancient legends and megalithic stone monuments. A wealthy heiress who was also a writer, her friendship with H.D. blossomed into love. They were lifelong companions, although often maintaining separate residences and their independence. They travelled together and kept their relationship throughout their other affairs, and throughout Bryher's marriages to Robert McAlmon and Kenneth Macpherson.
The two women moved to Paris, mingling with the expatriate literary community. After Bryher's marriage to McAlmon ended, and the one to Macpherson began, they were drawn into the world of film. Bryher and Macpherson began POOL Productions and the film magazine Close-Up. H.D. appeared in the POOL films productions Foothills (1927) and Borderline (1930), which received their most enthusiastic reception in Germany.
H.D. and Bryher lived at this time in Kenwin, the Bauhaus home Bryher had built near Riant Chateau in Switzerland. H.D. sought out analysis, and Bryher, an early supporter of psychoanalysis, arranged for Dr. Hanns Sachs and Havelock Ellis to recommend H.D. to Sigmund Freud. H.D. referred to herself as Freud's pupil, and he referred to her as his analysand, during 1933 and 1934. H.D. later wrote "Tribute to Freud" as a fictionalized memoir of this period.
Her interests at this time also included mysticism, Hellenic studies, Egyptology, and astrology. Her long poem “Helen in Egypt” reflected those interests. She and Bryher were able to get to London when World War II broke out; Bryher barely escaped Switzerland before helping over a hundred refugees to homes in other countries.
The years during World War II were very productive for H.D. She and Bryher lived together during this time. H.D. became very interested in spiritualism, and her poetry began to strain at the boundaries of Imagism. "The Walls Do Not Fall," the first part of "Trilogy," was her break with Imagism.
After the war, H.D. suffered a mental breakdown, and returned to Switzerland. She lived at Kusnacht, a clinic, and various hotels. She was now 60, yet was experiencing the most prolific writing years of her life. Her book “Hermetic Definition” (1972, New Directions) contains the angel-haunted poems of her old age. Other books include “Selected Poems of H.D.” (1957, Grove Press) and “Trilogy” (1973, New Directions).
In July 1961 she suffered a stroke and died on Sept. 21, 1961. She was buried on Nisky Hill, in Bethlehem, Pa., among her family. She was survived by Bryher, her daughter and son-in-law, her grandchildren and many other family members and friends.
H. Hernandez writes, “Her gravestone lies flat in Nisky Hill Cemetery… and usually has sea shells on it, left in tribute. It bears lines from her poem ‘Epitaph’:
…So you may say,
Greek flower;
Greek ecstasy
reclaims forever
one who died
following intricate song's
lost measure.
H.D.”
Gay History Project: H.D.
The bisexual poet H.D., whose full name was Hilda Doolittle, was born on Sept. 10, 1886, in Bethlehem, Pa., to a wealthy upper- middleclass family. A contemporary of the American poet Ezra Pound, with whom she was involved at one point, she became a great Imagist poet, who at the end of her writing career broke with strict Imagism. She received literary awards including the Gold Medal from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and, later in life, the Brandeis and Longview Awards.
Hilda attended the Ivy League women’s college Bryn Mawr, but dropped out and moved to England in 1911. Her romance with Ezra Pound had ended, but he introduced her to London's avant garde literary circles. She married the novelist Richard Aldington in 1913.
The Imagist poets believed in direct treatment of the subject, allowing no inessential words and following the musical phrase rather than strict, traditional regularity in their rhythms. H.D.'s first published poems appeared in the journal Poetry in January 1913.
H.D. was fascinated by ancient Greek culture, and now she began to travel throughout Europe and saw Greece for the first time. Her poetry appeared in the English Review, the Transatlantic Review, and the Egoist. She also began an intense but non-sexual relationship with novelist D.H. Lawrence, and her marriage became troubled. (Her novel "Bid Me to Live" is largely about this time.)
She lived downstairs from her husband's mistress, and was introduced to a friend of the Lawrences, Cecil Gray, who became the father of her daughter, Frances Perdita, named for H.D.'s first great love and lifelong friend, Frances Gregg, and for the lost daughter of Hermione in Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale. The birth left H.D. very ill, but a woman named Bryher came to her rescue.
Bryher, born Annie Winifred Ellerman, met H.D. on July 17, 1918 in Cornwall. She took the name Bryher from one of the fabled Scilly Isles, located to the west of Cornwall and site of many ancient legends and megalithic stone monuments. A wealthy heiress who was also a writer, her friendship with H.D. blossomed into love. They were lifelong companions, although often maintaining separate residences and their independence. They travelled together and kept their relationship throughout their other affairs, and throughout Bryher's marriages to Robert McAlmon and Kenneth Macpherson.
The two women moved to Paris, mingling with the expatriate literary community. After Bryher's marriage to McAlmon ended, and the one to Macpherson began, they were drawn into the world of film. Bryher and Macpherson began POOL Productions and the film magazine Close-Up. H.D. appeared in the POOL films productions Foothills (1927) and Borderline (1930), which received their most enthusiastic reception in Germany.
H.D. and Bryher lived at this time in Kenwin, the Bauhaus home Bryher had built near Riant Chateau in Switzerland. H.D. sought out analysis, and Bryher, an early supporter of psychoanalysis, arranged for Dr. Hanns Sachs and Havelock Ellis to recommend H.D. to Sigmund Freud. H.D. referred to herself as Freud's pupil, and he referred to her as his analysand, during 1933 and 1934. H.D. later wrote "Tribute to Freud" as a fictionalized memoir of this period.
Her interests at this time also included mysticism, Hellenic studies, Egyptology, and astrology. Her long poem “Helen in Egypt” reflected those interests. She and Bryher were able to get to London when World War II broke out; Bryher barely escaped Switzerland before helping over a hundred refugees to homes in other countries.
The years during World War II were very productive for H.D. She and Bryher lived together during this time. H.D. became very interested in spiritualism, and her poetry began to strain at the boundaries of Imagism. "The Walls Do Not Fall," the first part of "Trilogy," was her break with Imagism.
After the war, H.D. suffered a mental breakdown, and returned to Switzerland. She lived at Kusnacht, a clinic, and various hotels. She was now 60, yet was experiencing the most prolific writing years of her life. Her book “Hermetic Definition” (1972, New Directions) contains the angel-haunted poems of her old age. Other books include “Selected Poems of H.D.” (1957, Grove Press) and “Trilogy” (1973, New Directions).
In July 1961 she suffered a stroke and died on Sept. 21, 1961. She was buried on Nisky Hill, in Bethlehem, Pa., among her family. She was survived by Bryher, her daughter and son-in-law, her grandchildren and many other family members and friends.
H. Hernandez writes, “Her gravestone lies flat in Nisky Hill Cemetery… and usually has sea shells on it, left in tribute. It bears lines from her poem ‘Epitaph’:
…So you may say,
Greek flower;
Greek ecstasy
reclaims forever
one who died
following intricate song's
lost measure.
H.D.”
Hilda attended the Ivy League women’s college Bryn Mawr, but dropped out and moved to England in 1911. Her romance with Ezra Pound had ended, but he introduced her to London's avant garde literary circles. She married the novelist Richard Aldington in 1913.
The Imagist poets believed in direct treatment of the subject, allowing no inessential words and following the musical phrase rather than strict, traditional regularity in their rhythms. H.D.'s first published poems appeared in the journal Poetry in January 1913.
H.D. was fascinated by ancient Greek culture, and now she began to travel throughout Europe and saw Greece for the first time. Her poetry appeared in the English Review, the Transatlantic Review, and the Egoist. She also began an intense but non-sexual relationship with novelist D.H. Lawrence, and her marriage became troubled. (Her novel "Bid Me to Live" is largely about this time.)
She lived downstairs from her husband's mistress, and was introduced to a friend of the Lawrences, Cecil Gray, who became the father of her daughter, Frances Perdita, named for H.D.'s first great love and lifelong friend, Frances Gregg, and for the lost daughter of Hermione in Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale. The birth left H.D. very ill, but a woman named Bryher came to her rescue.
Bryher, born Annie Winifred Ellerman, met H.D. on July 17, 1918 in Cornwall. She took the name Bryher from one of the fabled Scilly Isles, located to the west of Cornwall and site of many ancient legends and megalithic stone monuments. A wealthy heiress who was also a writer, her friendship with H.D. blossomed into love. They were lifelong companions, although often maintaining separate residences and their independence. They travelled together and kept their relationship throughout their other affairs, and throughout Bryher's marriages to Robert McAlmon and Kenneth Macpherson.
The two women moved to Paris, mingling with the expatriate literary community. After Bryher's marriage to McAlmon ended, and the one to Macpherson began, they were drawn into the world of film. Bryher and Macpherson began POOL Productions and the film magazine Close-Up. H.D. appeared in the POOL films productions Foothills (1927) and Borderline (1930), which received their most enthusiastic reception in Germany.
H.D. and Bryher lived at this time in Kenwin, the Bauhaus home Bryher had built near Riant Chateau in Switzerland. H.D. sought out analysis, and Bryher, an early supporter of psychoanalysis, arranged for Dr. Hanns Sachs and Havelock Ellis to recommend H.D. to Sigmund Freud. H.D. referred to herself as Freud's pupil, and he referred to her as his analysand, during 1933 and 1934. H.D. later wrote "Tribute to Freud" as a fictionalized memoir of this period.
Her interests at this time also included mysticism, Hellenic studies, Egyptology, and astrology. Her long poem “Helen in Egypt” reflected those interests. She and Bryher were able to get to London when World War II broke out; Bryher barely escaped Switzerland before helping over a hundred refugees to homes in other countries.
The years during World War II were very productive for H.D. She and Bryher lived together during this time. H.D. became very interested in spiritualism, and her poetry began to strain at the boundaries of Imagism. "The Walls Do Not Fall," the first part of "Trilogy," was her break with Imagism.
After the war, H.D. suffered a mental breakdown, and returned to Switzerland. She lived at Kusnacht, a clinic, and various hotels. She was now 60, yet was experiencing the most prolific writing years of her life. Her book “Hermetic Definition” (1972, New Directions) contains the angel-haunted poems of her old age. Other books include “Selected Poems of H.D.” (1957, Grove Press) and “Trilogy” (1973, New Directions).
In July 1961 she suffered a stroke and died on Sept. 21, 1961. She was buried on Nisky Hill, in Bethlehem, Pa., among her family. She was survived by Bryher, her daughter and son-in-law, her grandchildren and many other family members and friends.
H. Hernandez writes, “Her gravestone lies flat in Nisky Hill Cemetery… and usually has sea shells on it, left in tribute. It bears lines from her poem ‘Epitaph’:
…So you may say,
Greek flower;
Greek ecstasy
reclaims forever
one who died
following intricate song's
lost measure.
H.D.”
Gay History Project: H.D.
The bisexual poet H.D., whose full name was Hilda Doolittle, was born on Sept. 10, 1886, in Bethlehem, Pa., to a wealthy upper- middleclass family. A contemporary of the American poet Ezra Pound, with whom she was involved at one point, she became a great Imagist poet, who at the end of her writing career broke with strict Imagism. She received literary awards including the Gold Medal from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and, later in life, the Brandeis and Longview Awards.
Hilda attended the Ivy League women’s college Bryn Mawr, but dropped out and moved to England in 1911. Her romance with Ezra Pound had ended, but he introduced her to London's avant garde literary circles. She married the novelist Richard Aldington in 1913.
The Imagist poets believed in direct treatment of the subject, allowing no inessential words and following the musical phrase rather than strict, traditional regularity in their rhythms. H.D.'s first published poems appeared in the journal Poetry in January 1913.
H.D. was fascinated by ancient Greek culture, and now she began to travel throughout Europe and saw Greece for the first time. Her poetry appeared in the English Review, the Transatlantic Review, and the Egoist. She also began an intense but non-sexual relationship with novelist D.H. Lawrence, and her marriage became troubled. (Her novel "Bid Me to Live" is largely about this time.)
She lived downstairs from her husband's mistress, and was introduced to a friend of the Lawrences, Cecil Gray, who became the father of her daughter, Frances Perdita, named for H.D.'s first great love and lifelong friend, Frances Gregg, and for the lost daughter of Hermione in Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale. The birth left H.D. very ill, but a woman named Bryher came to her rescue.
Bryher, born Annie Winifred Ellerman, met H.D. on July 17, 1918 in Cornwall. She took the name Bryher from one of the fabled Scilly Isles, located to the west of Cornwall and site of many ancient legends and megalithic stone monuments. A wealthy heiress who was also a writer, her friendship with H.D. blossomed into love. They were lifelong companions, although often maintaining separate residences and their independence. They travelled together and kept their relationship throughout their other affairs, and throughout Bryher's marriages to Robert McAlmon and Kenneth Macpherson.
The two women moved to Paris, mingling with the expatriate literary community. After Bryher's marriage to McAlmon ended, and the one to Macpherson began, they were drawn into the world of film. Bryher and Macpherson began POOL Productions and the film magazine Close-Up. H.D. appeared in the POOL films productions Foothills (1927) and Borderline (1930), which received their most enthusiastic reception in Germany.
H.D. and Bryher lived at this time in Kenwin, the Bauhaus home Bryher had built near Riant Chateau in Switzerland. H.D. sought out analysis, and Bryher, an early supporter of psychoanalysis, arranged for Dr. Hanns Sachs and Havelock Ellis to recommend H.D. to Sigmund Freud. H.D. referred to herself as Freud's pupil, and he referred to her as his analysand, during 1933 and 1934. H.D. later wrote "Tribute to Freud" as a fictionalized memoir of this period.
Her interests at this time also included mysticism, Hellenic studies, Egyptology, and astrology. Her long poem “Helen in Egypt” reflected those interests. She and Bryher were able to get to London when World War II broke out; Bryher barely escaped Switzerland before helping over a hundred refugees to homes in other countries.
The years during World War II were very productive for H.D. She and Bryher lived together during this time. H.D. became very interested in spiritualism, and her poetry began to strain at the boundaries of Imagism. "The Walls Do Not Fall," the first part of "Trilogy," was her break with Imagism.
After the war, H.D. suffered a mental breakdown, and returned to Switzerland. She lived at Kusnacht, a clinic, and various hotels. She was now 60, yet was experiencing the most prolific writing years of her life. Her book “Hermetic Definition” (1972, New Directions) contains the angel-haunted poems of her old age. Other books include “Selected Poems of H.D.” (1957, Grove Press) and “Trilogy” (1973, New Directions).
In July 1961 she suffered a stroke and died on Sept. 21, 1961. She was buried on Nisky Hill, in Bethlehem, Pa., among her family. She was survived by Bryher, her daughter and son-in-law, her grandchildren and many other family members and friends.
H. Hernandez writes, “Her gravestone lies flat in Nisky Hill Cemetery… and usually has sea shells on it, left in tribute. It bears lines from her poem ‘Epitaph’:
…So you may say,
Greek flower;
Greek ecstasy
reclaims forever
one who died
following intricate song's
lost measure.
H.D.”
Hilda attended the Ivy League women’s college Bryn Mawr, but dropped out and moved to England in 1911. Her romance with Ezra Pound had ended, but he introduced her to London's avant garde literary circles. She married the novelist Richard Aldington in 1913.
The Imagist poets believed in direct treatment of the subject, allowing no inessential words and following the musical phrase rather than strict, traditional regularity in their rhythms. H.D.'s first published poems appeared in the journal Poetry in January 1913.
H.D. was fascinated by ancient Greek culture, and now she began to travel throughout Europe and saw Greece for the first time. Her poetry appeared in the English Review, the Transatlantic Review, and the Egoist. She also began an intense but non-sexual relationship with novelist D.H. Lawrence, and her marriage became troubled. (Her novel "Bid Me to Live" is largely about this time.)
She lived downstairs from her husband's mistress, and was introduced to a friend of the Lawrences, Cecil Gray, who became the father of her daughter, Frances Perdita, named for H.D.'s first great love and lifelong friend, Frances Gregg, and for the lost daughter of Hermione in Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale. The birth left H.D. very ill, but a woman named Bryher came to her rescue.
Bryher, born Annie Winifred Ellerman, met H.D. on July 17, 1918 in Cornwall. She took the name Bryher from one of the fabled Scilly Isles, located to the west of Cornwall and site of many ancient legends and megalithic stone monuments. A wealthy heiress who was also a writer, her friendship with H.D. blossomed into love. They were lifelong companions, although often maintaining separate residences and their independence. They travelled together and kept their relationship throughout their other affairs, and throughout Bryher's marriages to Robert McAlmon and Kenneth Macpherson.
The two women moved to Paris, mingling with the expatriate literary community. After Bryher's marriage to McAlmon ended, and the one to Macpherson began, they were drawn into the world of film. Bryher and Macpherson began POOL Productions and the film magazine Close-Up. H.D. appeared in the POOL films productions Foothills (1927) and Borderline (1930), which received their most enthusiastic reception in Germany.
H.D. and Bryher lived at this time in Kenwin, the Bauhaus home Bryher had built near Riant Chateau in Switzerland. H.D. sought out analysis, and Bryher, an early supporter of psychoanalysis, arranged for Dr. Hanns Sachs and Havelock Ellis to recommend H.D. to Sigmund Freud. H.D. referred to herself as Freud's pupil, and he referred to her as his analysand, during 1933 and 1934. H.D. later wrote "Tribute to Freud" as a fictionalized memoir of this period.
Her interests at this time also included mysticism, Hellenic studies, Egyptology, and astrology. Her long poem “Helen in Egypt” reflected those interests. She and Bryher were able to get to London when World War II broke out; Bryher barely escaped Switzerland before helping over a hundred refugees to homes in other countries.
The years during World War II were very productive for H.D. She and Bryher lived together during this time. H.D. became very interested in spiritualism, and her poetry began to strain at the boundaries of Imagism. "The Walls Do Not Fall," the first part of "Trilogy," was her break with Imagism.
After the war, H.D. suffered a mental breakdown, and returned to Switzerland. She lived at Kusnacht, a clinic, and various hotels. She was now 60, yet was experiencing the most prolific writing years of her life. Her book “Hermetic Definition” (1972, New Directions) contains the angel-haunted poems of her old age. Other books include “Selected Poems of H.D.” (1957, Grove Press) and “Trilogy” (1973, New Directions).
In July 1961 she suffered a stroke and died on Sept. 21, 1961. She was buried on Nisky Hill, in Bethlehem, Pa., among her family. She was survived by Bryher, her daughter and son-in-law, her grandchildren and many other family members and friends.
H. Hernandez writes, “Her gravestone lies flat in Nisky Hill Cemetery… and usually has sea shells on it, left in tribute. It bears lines from her poem ‘Epitaph’:
…So you may say,
Greek flower;
Greek ecstasy
reclaims forever
one who died
following intricate song's
lost measure.
H.D.”