Imagery

"Sea Iris"

By: H. D.

(poem from poetry foundation.org)

I

Weed, moss-weed,

root tangled in sand,

sea-iris, brittle flower,

one petal like a shell

is broken,

and you print a shadow

like a thin twig.

Fortunate one,

scented and stinging,

rigid myrrh-bud,

camphor-flower,

sweet and salt—you are wind

in our nostrils.

            

 II

Do the murex-fishers

drench you as they pass?

Do your roots drag up colour

from the sand?

Have they slipped gold under you—

rivets of gold?

Band of iris-flowers

above the waves,

you are painted blue,

painted like a fresh prow

stained among the salt weeds.

Biographical Information

          On September 10, 1886, Hilda Doolittle was born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. She attended Bryn Mawr, as a classmate of Marianne Moore, and later the University of Pennsylvania where she befriended Ezra Pound and William Carlos Williams. Through Pound, H. D. grew interested in and quickly became a leader of the Imagist movement. Some of her earliest poems gained recognition when they were published by Harriet Monroe in Poetry. 

          Her work is characterized by the intense strength of her images, economy of language, and use of classical mythology. Her poems did not receive widespread appreciation and acclaim during her lifetime, in part because her name was associated with the Imagist movement even as her voice had outgrown the movement's boundaries, as evidenced by her book-length works, Trilogy and Helen in Egypt. As Alicia Ostriker said in American Poetry Review, "H.D. by the end of her career became not only the most gifted woman poet of our century, but one of the most original poets—the more I read her the more I think this—in our language." 

(biographical information from poets.org)

Explanation of Technique

         Imagery is a type of poem where figurative language is used a lot. The figurative language in the poem can used to represent objects, actions, and ideas. Words used in imagery poems can create a visual representation in the reader's mind. This can cause the reader to use his or her imagination. The poem above is a imagery poem, because H. D. uses the words in her poem to paint a picture in the reader's mind of an iris flower.

Interpretation of Poem

           In H. D.'s poem talks about how dazzling iris flowers can be. However, that is not all she is saying in this poem. She describes the iris flower as brittle and weeds all around it, but the iris flower being the wind of our nostrils. I think that means even though you may feel weak in a certain situation, keep on showing how beautiful you are like the iris and do not let weakness get to you. Keep on letting your light shine.

(picture from fineartamerica.com)

Visual Explanation

         I chose a picture of iris flowers, because it was the centerpiece of H. D.'s poem. Her poem, "Sea Iris", described how determined the flower was to stay standing, even though it was brittle and surrounded by weeds. The flower continued to let its light shine.