Thetis (by H.D.)
H.D. in the 1910s
Thetis
by Hilda Doolittle
[from Hymen (Henry Holt and Company, 1921)]
I
On the paved parapet
you will step carefully
from amber stones to onyx
flecked with violet,
mingled with light,
half showing the sea-grass
and sea-sand underneath,
reflecting your white feet
and the gay strap crimson
as lily-buds of Arion,
and the gold that binds your feet.
II
You will pass
beneath the island disk
(and myrtle-wood,
the carved support of it)
and the white stretch
of its white beach,
curved as the moon crescent
or ivory when some fine hand
chisels it:
when the sun slips
through the far edge,
there is rare amber
through the sea,
and flecks of it
glitter on the dolphin's back
and jewelled halter
and harness and bit
as he sways under it.
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Posted by Jesus Crisis at 1/7/2010 10:45 AM 
Categories: 1900s, Writing, Doolittle (Hilda), American
Tags: American Literature Hilda Doolittle 1921 Hymen H.D. Imagist American Poetry Imagiste
Categories: 1900s, Writing, Doolittle (Hilda), American
Tags: American Literature Hilda Doolittle 1921 Hymen H.D. Imagist American Poetry Imagiste
H.D. only published sections I and II of this poem in Hymen. But a longer version, including sections III and IV, appears in her Collected Poems 1912-1944. I can't include it here because its under copyright.
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That's odd... how does that work that different versions or portions are under different copyright restrictions?
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The early version is free of copyright because it was published before 1923 in the U.S. The later version is still subject to copyright because it was published later, when a different law was in effect.
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I gathered that.. but do you know why different versions of different lengths were published? That puzzles me... that's all.
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Apparently she decided she could improve upon it after she'd already published it in Hymen.
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Oh....
I assume that is a supposition on your part as to why. Have you ever seen that with other poets work? I haven't.. but I've not read as extensively as you have.
I've done it myself after I've posted a poem to my blog or something... but once I've submitted somewhere I tend not to change things. Anyway... thanks. I was just curious because the change sounded substantial.
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I published my "Rapists" in Bloggerel -- then later decided I could improve it, and had the new version published elsewhere. There are similar situations with many of the poems in the Online Library, including some by William Carlos Williams, E.E. Cummings, Marianne Moore and others. Just like in whole books... e.g., Walt Whitman expanded Leaves of Grass in subsequent editions.
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knew about yours because I remember you mentioning it. But did not know about the others.. thanks.
I guess the fact I am a newbie has a lot to do with why I'm unaware. And I've often not read more than one version of something...
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Paul Valéry said "A poem is never finished, it is only abandoned." Some have a harder time than others ever abandoning them.
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H.D. has a different poem also titled "Thetis" in her 1924 book Heliodora.
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:-) ... I've heard you quote that before.. I'm a greenhorn so for a longtime have thought everything I write is unalterable... But that's changing slowly.
My problem is after I've written something I think it is decent for about a week, then I think it sucks. So I move on... write something new. But now I look back and see things worth altering once in a while.. so maybe that is a mark of a more mature writer. A willingness not to think things are written in stone.
How many more HD poems are there left to post from Hymen?
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Let's see... the last I posted was "Phaedra." After "Phaedra," there are five more poems in Hymen -- but two of the five (Prayer and Egypt) were among the first H.D. poems I added to the library -- so that leaves me with three to add.
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I've just added them - so the complete book is now in the Online Library.
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