Trilogy (The Walls Do Not Fall, Tribute to the Angels, The Flowering of the Dead), by H.D. (Carcanet, £8.95 in UK)

The American lyricist H.D

The American lyricist H.D., or Hilda Doolittle in private life, appears to be experiencing a posthumous revival, and certainly she reads better than a posthumous-revival, and certainly she reads better than other Imagist poet's of her time such as Amy Lowell or Richard Aldington. This trilogy is a product of wartime and much of it was written in London during the Blitz - the three volumes were published, in small editions in 1944 1945 and 1946 respectively Now that the garrulous, gossipy verse of the Auden and post-Auden ages is mostly gone from the scene, her spare, melodic, occasionally "ecstatic" style may come back into its own.