This reissue of Trilogy by H. D. (Hilda Doolittle, 1886-1961) includes an introduction and notes by Aliki Barnstone. Some have compared these three long poems to T. S. Eliot's "Four Quartets" and Ezra Pound's "Pisan Cantos." Writing them while she was reeling from the destruction and devastation of World War II, H. D. sought a way to engage the spiritual energies of the past. She came up with a synthesis of the values of the Judeo-Christian heritage and the dynamism of Egyptian and Greek paganism.
The poet's Moravian background included an exaltation of the feminine and in these verses are paeans to the embodiment of love in Isis, Venus, Aphrodite, Mary, and the woman who anointed Jesus with perfume. In "The Flowering of the Rod," H. D. marvels at the hospitality of the prophet from Nazareth who while dying on the cross bequeathed eternal life to the outcast next to him. In Trilogy, the broken-open heart is the antidote to the terrors of a suffering world.