“Are you alive?
I touch you.
You quiver like a sea-fish.
I cover you with my net.
What are you—banded one?”

Hilda Doolittle, Poetry Foundation

This scene is fleeting, yet leaves a lasting impression. Imagist poet H.D. creates a striking but vague depiction, where the speaker sees something “alive” in the pool—perhaps a nod to the myth of Narcissus. However, rather than lean into themes of vanity and self-absorption, the speaker appears to possess more of an innocent curiosity and fascination. 

The thing in the pool “quivers” after the speaker touches it, suggesting that this may be the speaker’s reflection. This term is packed with vulnerability and provokes a sense of fleetingness. The speaker’s immediate reaction is to cover the quivering thing with a net. Is this an act of protection or entrapment? Since the following question—”What are you?”—further reinforces the speaker’s curiosity, the act of covering is likely an attempt to preserve this thing in order to keep observing it. By removing their ability to touch it, the speaker attempts to remove what makes this thing seem “alive.” 

If we choose to interpret this quivering thing to be the speaker’s reflection, we can further look at this poem as an analysis of the human psyche. The act of covering could be interpreted as an attempt at self-preservation and a desire to study and understand oneself without being hindered by sudden changes. But the mind and body is always in a state of flux and will continue to develop and grow unhindered, making it challenging to suspend oneself in stillness. Here, the speaker’s attempt at covering their reflection seems futile. The real challenge is observing one’s reflection even as it ripples from our touch. Narcissus, in his sedentary state of self-admiration, serves as a cautionary example of this. Now that the thing is “banded,” it does not feel as if the speaker will make any real progress.

While the speaker addresses the quivering thing as “you”, it does not seem as if the thing and the speaker are separate entities. H.D.’s imagery represents a very raw, very human attempt to pause the ephemerality of life in order to study and observe ourselves. The Pool encourages the reader to embrace constant change and flux in our journeys of self-reflection, rather than combat it.