by Andrew Marvell. The reviews he wrote in the 1940s and '50s were feared "for their acidity and intelligence. If his reviews hurt some writers – Patrick White included – they also sharply raised the standard of literary discussion in Australia." However, Hope relaxed in later years. As poet Kevin Hart writes, "The man I knew, from 1973 to 2000, was invariably gracious and benevolent". Hope wrote in a letter to the poet and academic Catherine Cole: "Now I feel I've reached the pinnacle of achievement when you equate me with one of Yeats's 'wild, wicked old men'. I'm probably remarkably wicked but not very wild, I fear too much ingrained Presbyterian caution". Cole suggests that Hope represented the three attributes that Vladimir Nabokov believed essential in a writer, "storyteller, teacher, enchanter". Hope's editor and fellow critic was David Brooks who was responsible for posthumously publishing the Selected Poetry and Prose of AD Hope in January, 2000. Influence and impact Kevin Hart, reviewing Catherine Cole's memoir of Hope, writes that "When A. D. Hope died in 2000 at the age of 93, Australia lost its greatest living poet". Hart goes on to say that when once asked what poets could do for Australia, Hope replied "oh not much, merely justify its existence". In 1998 a celebration of his life and works, The Scythe Honed Fine, was published by the National Library of Australia. Private life In 1937 he married Penelope Robinson. They had a daughter, Emily, who predeceased her parents in 1979; and two sons, Andrew and Geoffrey, who survived him. Penelope died in 1988. Awards 1956: Grace Leven Prize for Poetry 1965: Britannica Australia Awards for Literature 1966: Australian Literature Society Gold Medal 1967: Myer Award for Australian Poetry 1969: Ingram Merrill Foundation Award for Literature (New York) 1969: Levinson Prize for Poetry (Chicago) 1972: Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) 1976: The Age Book of the Year Award for A Late Picking 1976: Robert Frost Award for Poetry 1981: Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) 1989: New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Special Award 1993: ACT Book of the Year for Chance Encounters Honorary doctorates from four Australian universities Bibliography Poetry The Wandering Islands (1955) Sydney: Edwards & Shaw. Poems (1960) London: Hamish Hamilton A.D.Hope (1963) Sydney: Angus and Robertson. Collected Poems: 1930–1965 (1966) Sydney: Angus and Robertson. New Poems: 1965–1969 (1969) Sydney: Angus