George Oppen on board Galley Board, Long Island Sound, 1935; a picture featured on "Selected Poems" (2003)

George Oppen (April 24, 1908 - July 7, 1984) was an American poet, best known as one of the members of the Objectivist group of poets. He abandoned poetry in the 1930s for political activism, and later moved to Mexico to avoid the attentions of the House Un-American Activities Committee. He returned to poetry — and to the United States — in 1958, and received the Pulitzer Prize in 1969. Image File history File links Goppenbook_cover_selected. ... Image File history File links Goppenbook_cover_selected. ... New York City waterways: 1. ... is the 114th day of the year (115th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1908 (MCMVIII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Tuesday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... is the 188th day of the year (189th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the year. ... Emily Dickinson, one of the best known American poets. ... William Carlos Williams (1883-1963), who was the only poet to be published as both an Objectivist and an Imagist The Objectivist poets were a loose-knit group of second-generation Modernists who emerged in the 1930s. ... HUAC hearings The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC or HCUA,[1] 1938–1975) was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives. ... The Pulitzer Prize is an American award regarded as the highest national honor in print journalism, literary achievements, and musical composition. ... Also: 1969 (number) 1969 (movie) 1969 (Stargate SG-1) episode. ...

Early life

Oppen was born in New Rochelle, New York. His father, George August Oppenheimer, a successful diamond merchant, changed the family name to Oppen in 1927. Oppen's childhood was one of considerable affluence; the family was well tended to by servants and maids and Oppen enjoyed all the benefits of a wealthy upbringing: horse riding, expensive automobiles, frequent trips to Europe. Oppen's mother committed suicide when he was four and his father married Seville Shainwald, from whom Oppen was apparently abused. Oppen developed a skill for sailing at a young age and the seascapes around his childhood home left a mark on his later poetry. He was taught carpentry by the family butler; as an adult Oppen found work as a carpenter and cabinetmaker. New Rochelle City Hall New Roc City New Rochelle (French: Nouvelle-Rochelle) is a city in the southeast portion of the U.S. state of New York in Westchester County, 16 miles (26 km) from Grand Central Terminal in New York City and 2 miles north of the border with... This article is about the state. ... Year 1927 (MCMXXVII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

In 1917, the family moved to San Francisco where Oppen attended Warren Military Academy. It is speculated that during this time in his life, Oppen's early traumas with both his mother's suicide and an abusive stepmother led to fighting and drinking, so that by the time he was reaching maturity Oppen was experiencing a personal crisis. By 1925, this period of personal and psychic transition culminated in a serious car wreck in which George was driver and a young passenger was killed. Ultimately, Oppen was expelled from high school just before he graduated. After this period, he traveled to England and Scotland by himself, visiting his stepmother's relative, and attending lectures by C.A. Mace, professor in philosophy at St. Andrews. 1917 (MCMXVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 13-day slower Julian calendar (see: 1917 Julian calendar). ... This page is a candidate for speedy deletion. ... Year 1925 (MCMXXV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... St Marys College Bute Medical School St Leonards College[5][6] Affiliations 1994 Group Website http://www. ...

It can be speculated^{[citation needed]} that by this time Oppen reached a new level of maturity and independence so that by 1926, Oppen started attending Oregon State Agricultural College (what is now Oregon State University). Here he met Mary Colby, a fiercely independent young woman from Grants Pass, Oregon. On their first date, the couple stayed out all night with the result that she was expelled and he suspended. They left Oregon, married, and started hitch-hiking across the country working at odd jobs along the way. Year 1926 (MCMXXVI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Oregon State University (OSU) is a coeducational, public research university located in Corvallis, Oregon, United States. ... The large Caveman statue in Grants Pass, Oregon. ...

Early writing

While living on the road, Oppen began writing poems and publishing in local magazines. In 1929, and 1930 he and Mary spent some time in New York, where they met Louis Zukofsky, Charles Reznikoff, musician Tibor Serly, and designer Russel Wright, among others. Year 1929 (MCMXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1930 (MCMXXX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display 1930 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The cover of the 1978 edition of Zukofskys long poem A. Louis Zukofsky (January 23, 1904 – May 12, 1978) was one of the most important second-generation American modernist poets. ... Charles Reznikoff (August 31, 1894 - January 22, 1976) was the poet for whom the term Objectivist was first coined. ... Tibor Serly (Losonc, 25 November 1901 - London, 8 October 1978) was a Hungarian violist, violinist and composer. ... Russel Wright (April 3, 1904 - December 21, 1976) was an American designer. ...

In 1929, George came into a small inheritance which meant that they had relative financial independence. In 1930 they moved to California and then to France, where, thanks to their financial input, they were able to establish To Publishers acting as printer/publishers with Zukofsky as editor. The short-lived publishing venture managed to publish works by William Carlos Williams and Ezra Pound. Oppen had begun working on poems for what was to be his first book, Discrete Series, a seminal work in early Objectivist history. Some of these appeared in the February 1931 Objectivist issue of Poetry and the subsequent An "Objectivist's" Anthology published in 1932. Year 1929 (MCMXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1930 (MCMXXX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display 1930 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the U.S. state. ... William Carlos Williams Dr. William Carlos Williams (sometimes known as WCW) (September 17, 1883 – March 4, 1963), was an American poet closely associated with modernism and Imagism. ... Ezra Weston Loomis Pound (Hailey, Idaho Territory, United States, October 30, 1885 – Venice, Italy, November 1, 1972) was an American expatriate poet, critic and intellectual who was a major figure of the Modernist movement in early-to-mid 20th century poetry. ... Year 1931 (MCMXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1931 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Poetry, published in Chicago, Illinois, is one of the leading monthly poetry journals in the English-speaking world. ... Year 1932 (MCMXXXII) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link will display full 1932 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Oppen the Objectivist

In 1933, the Oppens returned to New York where, together with Williams, Zukofsky and Reznikoff, they set up the Objectivist Press. The press published books by Reznikoff and Williams, as well as Oppen's Discrete Series, with a preface by Pound. Rachel Blau DuPlessis (born 1941), American poet and essayist, is known as a feminist critic and scholar with a special interest in modernist and contemporary poetry. ... Year 1933 (MCMXXXIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Politics and war

Faced with the effects of the depression and the rise of fascism, the Oppens were becoming increasingly involved in political action. Unable to bring himself to write verse propaganda, Oppen abandoned poetry and joined the Communist Party USA, serving as election campaign manager for Brooklyn in 1936, and helping organize the Utica New York Milk Strike. He and Mary were also active for relief and Oppen was tried and acquitted on a charge of felonious assault on the police. Image:MichaelDavidsonPoet. ... 1967 Chinese propaganda poster from the Cultural Revolution. ... The Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA) is a Marxist-Leninist political party in the United States. ... This article is about the borough of New York City. ...

By 1943, Oppen was deferred from military service while working in the defense industry. Disillusioned by the CPUSA and wanting to assist in the fight against fascism, Oppen quit his job, making himself eligible for the draft. Effectively volunteering for duty, Oppen was called up in 1943 and saw active service on the Maginot Line and the Ardennes; he was seriously wounded south of the Battle of the Bulge. Shortly before the end of his tour of duty, Oppen helped liberate the concentration camp at Landsberg am Lech. He was awarded the Purple Heart and returned to New York in 1945. The Maginot Line (IPA: [maʒinoː], named after French minister of defense André Maginot) was a line of concrete fortifications, tank obstacles, artillery casemates, machine gun posts, and other defenses, which France constructed along its borders with Germany and Italy, in the light of experience from World War I... The Ardennes (IPA pronunciation: ) (Dutch: Ardennen) is a volcanic region of extensive forests and rolling hill country, primarily in Belgium and Luxembourg, but stretching into France (lending its name to the Ardennes département and the Champagne-Ardenne région). ... For the 1965 film, see Battle of the Bulge (film). ... It has been suggested that Internment be merged into this article or section. ... Landsberg am Lech is a town in the southwest of Bavaria, Germany, about 50 kilometers west of Munich and 35 kilometers south of Augsburg. ... For other uses, see Purple Heart (disambiguation). ...

Mexico

After the war, Oppen worked as a carpenter and cabinet maker. Although now less politically active, the Oppens were aware that their pasts were certain to attract the attention of Joseph McCarthy's Senate committee and decided to move to Mexico. During these admittedly bitter years in Mexico, George ran a small furniture making business and was involved in an expatriate intellectual community. They were also kept under surveillance by the Mexican authorities in association with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. They were able to re-enter the United States in 1958 when the United States government again allowed them to obtain passports which had been revoked since 1950. This article is about the U.S. senator from Wisconsin (1947-1957). ... Type Upper House President of the Senate Richard B. Cheney, R since January 20, 2001 President pro tempore Robert C. Byrd, D since January 4, 2007 Members 100 Political groups Democratic Party Republican Party Last elections November 7, 2006 Meeting place Senate Chamber United States Capitol Washington, DC United States... For the band, see Expatriate (band). ... F.B.I. and FBI redirect here. ...

Return to poetry

In 1958, following a dream involving "rust in copper" and his daughter's beginning college at Sarah Lawrence, Oppen returned to writing poetry, resulting in his first poem, titled "To Date" (later retitled "Blood From the Stone"), quite literally an exquisitely concise summary of his and Mary's life over the intervening 24 years of silence. After a brief trip in 1958 to visit their daughter at university, the Oppens returned to New York early 1960, at first returning to Mexico regularly. Back in Brooklyn, Oppen renewed old ties with Louis Zukofksy and Charles Reznikoff and also befriended many younger poets. The poems came in a flurry; within two years Oppen had assembled enough poems for a book and began publishing the poems in Poetry where he had first published and in his half-sister June Oppen Degnan's San Francisco Review. Sarah Lawrence is: Sarah Lawrence College This is a disambiguation page: a list of articles associated with the same title. ... Jan. ... Year 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the art form. ...

The poems of Oppen's first book following his return to poetry, The Materials, were poems that, as he told his sister June, should have been written ten years earlier. Oppen published two more collections of poetry during the 1960s, This In Which (1965) and Of Being Numerous (1968), the latter of which garnered him the Pulitzer Prize in 1969. Mary Oppen (b. ... Year 1965 (MCMLXV) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the 1965 Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1968 (MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Pulitzer Prize is an American award regarded as the highest national honor in print journalism, literary achievements, and musical composition. ... // FIELD Magazine founded Charles Bukowski quits his day job as a Post Office clerk in Los Angeles to embark on a writing career after being promised a $100 stipend from Black Sparrow Press. ...

Last years

Oppen was able to complete and see into publication his Collected Poems, together with a new section Myth of the Blaze, in 1975. In 1977, Mary provided the secretarial help George needed to complete his final volume of poetry Primitive. According to Rachel Blau DuPlessis^[3], this "help" was atypical of their practice and was related to George's decline. During this time, George's final illness, Alzheimer's disease, began to manifest itself with confusion, failing memory, and other losses. The disease was eventually to make it impossible for him to continue writing. George Oppen, age 76, died of pneumonia with complications from Alzheimer's disease in a convalescent home in California on July 7th, 1984. // With the 1974, fall of the dictatorship in Greece, poets, authors and intellectuals who had fled after the coup of 1967 returned, and this year many began publishing in that country. ... // December 19 - Philip Larkin turns down the British Poet Laureateship, and Ted Hughes becomes Poet Laureate. ...

Selected Bibliography

• Discrete Series (1934)
• The Materials (1962)
• This in Which (1965)
• Of Being Numerous (1968)
• Seascape: Needle's Eye (1971)
• The Collected Poems (1975) includes Myth of the Blaze
• Primitive (1978)

Posthumous publications

For more information on Oppen's posthumous publications, such as his Selected Letters and New Collected Poems, see Wikipedia articles on Rachel Blau DuPlessis and Michael Davidson.

Rachel Blau DuPlessis (born 1941), American poet and essayist, is known as a feminist critic and scholar with a special interest in modernist and contemporary poetry. ... Image:MichaelDavidsonPoet. ...

Further reading

• DuPlessis, Rachel Blau, editor. The Selected Letters of George Oppen, Duke University Press, 1990.

• Cope, Stephen. "Daybook One," "Daybook Two," and "Daybook Three," from George Oppen's Working Papers," edited with an Introduction by Stephen Cope. The Germ, 4, Santa Cruz: The Poetic Research Bloc (May 1999).

• Oppen, George. "The Philosophy of the Astonished (Selections from Working Papers)." Ed. Rachel Blau DuPlessis. Sulfur 27 (Fall 1990): 212.

• Oppen, George. Selected Prose, Daybooks, and Papers, Edited and with an Introduction by Stephen Cope. University of California Press, 2007; ISBN 978-0-520-23579-3, paperback: ISBN 978-0-520-25232-5

Notes and resources

1. ^ Statement for Pores
2. ^ "Forms of Refusal: George Oppen's Distant Life" (1967), Sulfur No. 26 (Spring 1990), editor Clayton Eshleman (Ypsilanti, MI: Eastern Michigan University) p. 133. 
3. ^ see DuPlessis: "Chronology" in Oppen's "Selected Poems" and her "Introduction" to Oppen's Selected Letters

Clayton Eshleman (born June 1, 1935) is an American poet. ...

External links

• George Oppen Archive at Poetryfoundation.org this site includes links to a dozen or so Oppen poems & an article on the poet by Carl Phillips
• Oppen at Modern American Poetry
• the George Oppen Papers
• George Oppen Homepage at Electronic Poetry Center
• Factbites website on Oppen 'dozens of essential quotes featuring direct source & links'
• Seeing the World: The Poetry of George Oppen essay by Jeremy Hooker, first published in Not comfort/But Vision: Essays on the Poetry of George Oppen(Interim Press, 1987)
• George Oppen in Exile: Mexico and Maritain (For Linda Oppen) essay by Peter Nicholls
• Finding the Phenomenal Oppen on-line reprint of an essay by Forrest Gander which first appeared in No: a journal of the arts
• OPPEN TALK by Kevin Killian transcription of The Tenth Annual George Oppen Memorial Lecture on Twentieth Century Poetics (1995) presented by the Poetry Center & American Poetry Archives of San Francisco State University
• The Romantic Poetics of George Oppen thesis on Of Being Numerous
• A Poetry of Action: George Oppen and Communism, an in-depth study of Oppen's years as member of Communist Party. Pay site.
• "I was somewhere in the vicinity of 20 to 22-years-old when..." Here poet Ron Silliman recalls first meeting Oppen at an anti-war reading. This brief essay was published on April 07, 2008 before Silliman was set to attend "A Celebration of George Oppen’s 100th Birthday: 100 Minutes of talk & poetry" at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia