The Apollonian Songs Of Order

A.D. Hope is the chief representative voice of Australian poetry and one of the few Australian poets best known internationally.Often termed as a scholar poet or intellectual poet and distinguished for his erudite learning, Hope displays great width and depth of concern in his poetry. Many critics have contributed a wealth of criticism on him and pointed out the various facets of his poetics and poetry. His modernity, his earlier satirical poems, the thematic preoccupations and concerns of his poetry such as sexuality, art, death, and his formalism have been all dwelled upon. However, with such a distinctive poet in the 20~th century, it can be deemed a great neglect on the critics' part that poet's view of poetry as something celebratory has failed to be expounded and the underlying beliefs and values the poet embraces have not been fully and convincingly explored.The paper attempts to offer an in-depth interpretation of Hope's view that poetry is celebratory and probe into the poet's underlying perspective on the world and human existence.Firstly, an outline of the poet's life and his achievements and an overview of the criticism on him are given to assist further exploration.Secondly, I will try to expound on Hope's view that poetry is celebratory and on the underlying beliefs and values of the poet. Though some of his early poems manifest disgust with the world and human beings, Hope is by no means a modernist poet, for he differs considerably and fundamentally from most modernists in the outlook on the world and human existence. He retains a firm belief in the essential orderliness and harmony of creation, and a conviction that the defining feature of man is his consciousness. We will find essential happiness in our human existence, he suggests, only by understanding and accepting our place in the large patterns of the universe.Hope holds an elevated view of the poets. In his view, poetry is an exemplary formof art and poets live out a creative way of life through the assertion of the individual will; that poetry is celebratory means an assertion of and admiration for the order of the world and an imaginative grasp of the necessity of its processes. Poets, like bees, through poetry, the dance of language, lead us to new areas of experiences. Hope also speaks of the poet as "a man continually obsessed with the passion for a synoptic view" and poetry's distinguishing character is that whatever aspect of its subject it treats, its central concern is to present it "under the aspect of eternity." Hope espouses the view that a poet is a passive vessel for a variety of ideas, insights, and experiences. This is what Keats terms the negative capability, the only guiding principle Hope openly avows his allegiance to.Thirdly, I will explore the scientific interests and concerns that Hope incorporates into his poetry and his view on the interrelationship between science and poetry. Hope argues that poets have by and large shirked the challenge this age of science has presented them. Hope claims that poetry is a necessary counterpart of science and the knowledge that is the special province of the poet is rooted firmly in ftie world of fact. Hope believes that poets should include in their canons of themes confrontation with those issues that scientific research brings to the consciousness of modern humans. The two ways of seeing, the scientific vision and the poetic vision, must be kept in balance.The fourth part dwells on Hope's celebration of his native land by digging out the images with Australian flavor that recur in Hope's poetry, such as those of islands, deserts, springs etc. We can see that his homeland is ever present in his imagination and poetry. What Hope rejects is not Australia but provincialism, which is deeply at odds with Hope's poetic temperament and erudite learning.Fifthly, I will touch upon Hope's formalism and the stylistic features of the poetry from his later collections. The values Hope espouses also form the basis of his assumption on poetic creation that poetry is first and foremost a disciplined art. A lifetime's devotion to the craft as well as the art of poetry guarantees that Hope will be among the most easily readable English poets in the 20^ century. He had all along been perfecting the "discursive style"; his preference for sustained narrative, dialogue,declarative manner, non-figurative language, and aphorism is obvious and there is also a good matching between the mode and tone. All his technical effort seems to be directed towards the elucidation of his thematic material to the fullest possible extent.The study concludes that Hope is an enlightened modern poet with a positive outlook on the world and human existence. His view that poetry is celebratory reflects his faith in the orderliness and harmony of the world and the significance of human life. His poetry is the informed celebration of the universe, i.e. the Apollonian songs of order.