Barbara Guest was an American poet and prose stylist who gained prominence in the 1950s and 1960s as an active member of the New York school of poetry. This collection contains a manuscript of her biography about the Imagist poet H.D. entitled Herself Defined: A Biography of the Poet H.D. It was later published in 1984 as Herself Defined: The Poet H.D. and Her World.

Barbara Guest was born in Wilmington, North Carolina but raised for most of her life in California. She was an American poet who is most often considered a member of the first generation of the New York school of poetry. The New York school poets were characterized by their vivid imagery, stream of consciousness writing, and spontaneous manner. Drawing their inspiration from the contemporary avant-garde art movements, they are also closely associated with the broader art movement of the 1950s and 1960s. Other poets commonly associated with this school are Frank O'Hara, John Ashbery, Alice Notley, and Kenneth Koch. Guest received her Bachelor of Arts in Humanities in 1943 from University of California Berkeley. She was awarded the Frost Medal for Lifetime Achievement by the Poet's Society of America.

1 document box (.5 linear ft.)

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