A. D. Hope
A. D. Hope, born on July 21, 1907, in Cooma, New South Wales, is recognized as one of Australia's most distinguished poets. He grew up in Tasmania and pursued higher education at the University of Sydney, followed by studies at University College, Oxford. Despite experiencing the challenges of the Great Depression and initially struggling in his career, Hope became a significant figure in Australian literature, known for his critical insights and later for his poetry. His first published work, *The Wandering Islands*, was released in 1955 when he was 48 years old, marking the beginning of a prolific period in his life characterized by numerous publications and awards. His poetry often explores themes of love and sensuality and he faced censorship challenges that delayed his early work. Throughout his academic career, he held significant teaching positions and received numerous honors, including an Order of the British Empire. Hope's later years were marked by remarkable productivity, including poetry collections, essays, and even a play, and he continues to be an influential figure, particularly among younger poets seeking to reconnect with traditional forms. His contributions have left an enduring impact on 20th-century literature, often celebrated, though sometimes underappreciated outside Australia.
Subject Terms
A. D. Hope
Australian poet
- Born: July 21, 1907
- Birthplace: Cooma, New South Wales, Australia
- Died: July 13, 2000
- Place of death: Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
Biography
Alec Derwent Hope, Australia’s most widely honored poet, was born in Cooma, New South Wales, on July 21, 1907, the son of a Presbyterian minister. In 1911, the Hopes moved to Campbell Town in the Macquaise Valley on the island of Tasmania. In his early years, Hope was educated at home and then attended a number of secondary schools.
In 1924 Hope was admitted to the University of Sydney, where he read English and philosophy and graduated in 1928, winning a scholarship to University College, Oxford, to study English. He left in 1931 with a third-class degree. He returned to Sydney in 1931 with the Depression in full force. In 1932 Hope trained at Sydney Teachers’ College and proceeded to hold a number of odd jobs for which he was ill suited. Finally, in 1938, Hope was appointed a lecturer in English at Sydney Teachers’ University.
Though he had no book publications at this time, he possessed a growing reputation as a caustic critic of the Australian literary scene. Hope was also the radio personality known as Anthony Inkwell, who conducted poetry programs for children on the Australian Broadcasting System. With increasing recognition, in 1945 Hope was appointed senior lecturer in the department of English at the University of Melbourne. He served in this capacity until 1951, when he accepted the post of professor of English at Canberra University College, which soon became the Australian National University.
His first book, The Wandering Islands, finally appeared in 1955, when Hope was forty-eight. Hope was a deliberate worker, slow to mature as a poet although very active as a teacher and critic. Another major reason for such late publication was censorship. Until the 1950’s, Australia had a far more repressive obscenity law than did the United States. Hope is a very sensual poet; love is his major theme, and physical love pervades his poetic canon. Nevertheless, The Wandering Islands received much praise amid the controversy and won the Grace Leven Prize.
The publication of Hope’s first book unleashed a series of further books and awards. Poems was published in both Australia and the United States in 1960. Hope’s first collection of essays was The Cave and the Spring, published in 1965, which won the Britannica Australia Award and the Volkswagen Award the following year; 1966 saw the publication of Collected Poems, 1930-1965. In 1967 Hope retired from teaching and was elected professor emeritus.
After retirement Hope’s life was one of publications, travel, and further awards. His New Poems, 1965-1969 brought him the Levinson Prize for Poetry and the Ingram Merrill Award for Literature as well as an appointment as special consultant in poetry at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. In 1970 he brought out another two books, A Midsummer Eve’s Dream, a critical work, and Dunciad Minor, a lengthy verse satire done in the manner of Alexander Pope’s Dunciad and attacking contemporary literary criticism. His Collected Poems of 1972 helped earn Hope an Order of the British Empire and his first of several honorary degrees. Native Companions, a collection of literary essays, followed in 1974, while 1975 brought a new poetry collection, A Late Picking.
Still the honors flowed in; in 1976 he received the Robert Frost Award for Poetry and the Age Book Award. Two years later Hope published A Book of Answers, a lighter collection of poems responding to poems by other poets, and The Pack of Autolycus, a collection of essays. The New Cratylus, Hope’s major statement on poetic practice, was published in 1979 and included an attack on twentieth century poetics.
At an advanced age when many poets cease writing, Hope was amazingly productive. The year 1981 brought yet another poetry collection, Antechinus, and the awarding of a Companion of the Order of Australia, while the following year witnessed Hope’s emendations to Christopher Marlowe’s Tragical History of Doctor Faustus. When he was seventy-eight he published The Age of Reason, a collection of narrative poems dealing with subjects from the eighteenth century. This same year, 1985, brought his appointment both as Ashby Visiting Fellow, Clare Hall, Cambridge, and as Honorary Fellow of University College, Oxford.
At the age of eighty, Hope published his first play, Ladies from the Sea, a lively imagining of Circe and Calypso coming to call on a chagrined Odysseus in Ithaca. He published another poetry collection, Orpheus, in 1991, which, though uneven, contains a few of the best poems ever written by a poet in his ninth decade. A loosely connected memoir, Chance Encounters appeared the following year.
Hope’s was a remarkable creative life, the relative public silence of his first half releasing a torrent of creation, publication, and honors in its second half. He is still underappreciated, especially in the United States, though many younger American poets, seeking a return to the uses of traditional form, see him as something of a father figure. The body of his work is an impressive contribution to twentieth century literature.
Author Works
Poetry:
The Wandering Islands, 1955
Poems, 1960
A. D. Hope, 1963
Collected Poems, 1930-1965, 1966
New Poems, 1965-1969, 1969
Dunciad Minor: An Heroick Poem, 1970
Collected Poems, 1930-1970, 1972
Selected Poems, 1973
The Damnation of Byron, 1973
A Late Picking: Poems, 1965-1974, 1975
A Book of Answers, 1978
Antechinus: Poems, 1975-1980, 1981
The Age of Reason, 1985
Selected Poems, 1986
Orpheus, 1991
Selected Poems, 1992
Selected Poetry and Prose, 2000
Drama:
Ladies from the Sea, pb. 1987
Nonfiction:
The Structure of Verse and Prose, 1943
The Study of English, 1952 (lecture)
Australian Literature, 1950-1962, 1963
The Cave and the Spring: Essays on Poetry, 1965
The Literary Influence of Academies, 1970 (lecture)
A Midsummer Eve’s Dream: Variations on a Theme byWilliam Dunbar, 1970
Henry Kendall: A Dialogue with the Past, 1971
Native Companions: Essays and Comments on Australian Literature, 1936-1966, 1974
Judith Wright, 1975
The Pack of Autolycus, 1978
The New Cratylus: Notes on the Craft of Poetry, 1979
Poetry and the Art of Archery, 1980 (lecture)
Chance Encounters, 1992
Edited Text:
Australian Poetry, 1960, 1960
Henry Kendall, 1973 (with Leonie Kramer)
Bibliography
Argyle, Barry. “The Poetry of A. D. Hope.” Journal of Commonwealth Literature, vol. 3, 1967, pp. 87–96. One of the early but still relevant studies of Hope, this article contrasts his work with that of other Australian writers.
Brissenden, R. F. “Art and the Academy: The Achievement of A. D. Hope.” The Literature of Australia. Edited by Geoffrey Dutton, Penguin Books, 1976. Through the analysis of several poems, Brissenden concludes that Hope invokes through his poetry the entire history and culture of Western civilization, thus making him far more than an Australian poet.
Brooks, David, ed. The Double Looking Glass: New and Classic Essays on A. D. Hope. U of Queensland P, 2000. An essay collection covering Hope’s entire career.
Darling, Robert. A. D. Hope. New York: Twayne, 1997. Reviews the whole of Hope’s poetic work in the context of modernist and contemporary poetry, particularly Australian poetry.
Darling, Robert. “The Mythology of the Actual.” International Literature in English: The Major Writers. Edited by Robert L. Ross, Garland, 1991. Hope’s interest in science and his belief that the poet and the scientist share attributes form the basis of this essay, which analyzes fully several poems making use of scientific imagery.
Hart, Kevin. A. D. Hope. Oxford UP, 1992. Brief biography and critical interpretation of Hope’s work. Includes bibliography.
Hergenhan, Laurie. “Starting a Journal: ALS Hobart, 1963: James McAuley, A. D. Hope, and Geoffrey Dutton.” Australian Literary Studies, vol. 19, no. 4, 2000, pp. 433–38. A review of the history of Australian Literary Studies traces Hope’s influence in its creation and editorial course.
King, Bruce. “A. D. Hope and Australian Poetry.” The Sewannee Review, vol. 58, 1979, pp. 119–41. This essay is of special interest, first, for placing Hope’s work within the context of the overall development of Australian poetry, and second, for providing an overview of the directions that Australia’s contemporary poetry was taking.
Martin, Philip. “A. D. Hope: Nonconformist.” Journal of Popular Culture, vol. 23, no. 2, 1989, pp. 47–54. Starting from the Nonconformism of Hope’s religious upbringing, Martin analyzes Hope’s career through his eightieth year as a variation on the theme of personal nonconformism.
Paolucci, Anne, and Henry Paolucci. “Poet Critics on the Frontiers of Literature: A. D. Hope, T. S. Eliot, and William Carlos Williams.” Review of National Literatures, vol. 11, 1982, pp. 146–91. Compares the critical and theoretical views of these three major contemporary figures and raises questions on whether the various English-language national literatures (such as Australian) will someday evolve into an international literature with English the only boundary, an outcome that Hope long predicted and promoted.