The poem "Sea Violet" illustrates H.D.'s strong identity as an Imagist poet in the first part of her career. When she first arrived in England in 1911, she immediately fell in with a group of expatriate poets who sought a new school of poetic thought, including her friend Ezra Pound. In 1912, Ezra Pound, H.D., and her soon-to-be-husband Richard Aldington, declared themselves the original Imagist poets and laid out three essential tenants:
"Direct treatment of the 'thing' whether subjective or objective, to use absolutely no word that does not contribute to the presentation...[and] regarding rhythm: to compose in the sequence of the musical phrase, not in the sequence of a metronome."
These tenants explain clearly why in "Sea Violet," the subject addressed contains no drama, over-sentimentality, or discussion of abstract concepts. The poem itself describes a very concrete phenomenon, and even its metaphorical language compares one tangible object to another tangible object. Secondly, in "Sea Violet," words are used so sparingly that any repetitions are indicative of significant meaning, and each word provides some symbolic weight, visual clarity, or bold revelation.
Phrases like "fragile as agate," "fronting the wind," and "you catch the light" are piercing in their intensity and poetic economy. Lastly, "Sea Violet" demonstrates perfectly the kind of euphony and song-like rhythm that the Imagists sought above consistent poetic meter. The use of line breaks, commas, sparing but pointed repetition, questions, and an occasionally conversational tone all contribute to this effect. An example in "Sea Violet" is the lines "but who would change for these / who would change for these / one root of the white sort?"
Though lauded by many, this poetic style had its critics. Poet Harold Monro wrote, for example, that H.D.'s work demonstrated "either poverty of imagination or needlessly excessive restraint." Despite this harsh review, H.D. continued writing in this manner through the 1930s, at which time she also began to produce more elaborate, long-form poems. The most famous of these longer poems is "Helen in Egypt" which she published shortly before her death.
