Chance Encounters

"I have had the great good fortune to have been able to live an almost entirely private life with a small circle of friends and colleagues ..." With this modest disclaimer, A. D. Hope, poet and teacher, embarks on a brief account of his life, a story fashioned around encounters and incidents which retain their importance to him after many years. As his path crosses those of Christopher Brennan and J. R. R. Tolkien, James McAuley and Kid Orey, Ern Malley and F. R. Leavis, the poet sets down what made the moment "interesting and amusing in itself". The result is an affectionate memoir, plain tales which reveal aspects of the life of a man whose poetry, teaching and criticism have made a unique contribution to Australia's literature. "Alec Derwent Hope was born in 1907, a son of the manse. In 1928 he graduated from the University of Sydney and then, on a scholarship, went to Oxford. He returned to Australia in 1931 and spent six years in Sydney and Canberra at various jobs including school teaching. In 1937 he became a lecturer at Sydney Teachers College, then went in 1945 to the University of Melbourne.
In 1951 he accepted the foundation chair of English at Canberra University College. A. D. Hope retired in 1968 but, as Emeritus Professor, remained an active member of the university community. Among the literary awards he received were the Britannica--Australia Award and the Myer Award, the Levinson Prize (Chicago, 1968) and the Robert Frost Award in 1976.".