H.D.
Manuscript and typescript (below),
“Hippolytus Temporizes”
n.d.
H.D. Papers

H.D. was fascinated with Euripides’ play about Hippolytus; she translated sections of Euripides text, wrote her own play based on the original, and wrote several poems about the play’s characters, including the one shown in draft here. Of writing her play, “Hippolytus Temporizes,” H.D. said, “I was realizing a self, a superego, if you will, that was an octave above my ordinary self and fighting to realize it. Once the poem was created, this world was created. I had to come back, to return to the ordinary things. I am tremendously touched by the play and admire it, technique and subject matter. But how did I write it?”1