Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
1 appearances
-
Edition 50 (1969) Winner
George Oppen
ジョージ・オッペン
Jōji Oppen
Profile
- Gender
- Male
- Born
- 1908-04-24 （New Rochelle, New York）
- Died
- 1984-07-07 （California） age 76
- Nationality
- American
- Languages
- English
- Religion
- Judaism
- Residence History
- New Rochelle, New York → San Francisco, California → Oregon → New York City → Mexico → Brooklyn, New York → California
Career
- Occupations
- Poet, Cabinet maker
- Active Years
- 1929-1978
- Affiliations
- Objectivist Press
- Memberships
- Communist Party USA
- Influenced By
- Carl Sandburg, Louis Zukofsky, William Carlos Williams, Ezra Pound
- Influenced
- Charles Reznikoff, Rachel Blau DuPlessis
Education
| Institution | Faculty | Department | Degree | Period | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oregon State University | — | Literature | — | 1926 | United States |
Oregon State University
Literature
Period:
1926
Country:
United States
Met Mary Colby in a poetry class and was suspended
Awards
| Year | Award | Work | Category | Organization | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1969 | Pulitzer Prize for Poetry | Of Being Numerous | Poetry | Columbia University | Winner |
| 1945 | Purple Heart | — | Military | U.S. Army | Awarded |
Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
1969
Work:
Of Being Numerous
Category:
Poetry
Organization:
Columbia University
Result:
Winner
Purple Heart
1945
Category:
Military
Organization:
U.S. Army
Result:
Awarded
Awards & Nominations
Works
Major Works
Discrete Series
1934 Poetry collectionA seminal work in early Objectivist history, with preface by Ezra Pound.
ObjectivismUrban landscapes
The Materials
1962 Poetry collectionFirst book after return to poetry.
ExistencePhenomenology
Of Being Numerous
1968 Poetry collectionPulitzer Prize-winning collection exploring themes of collectivity and individuality.
MultiplicityIndividuality
Bibliography
- Discrete Series (1934)
- The Materials (1962)
- This In Which (1965)
- Of Being Numerous (1968)
- Alpine (1969)
- Seascape: Needle's Eye (1972)
- The Collected Poems (1975)
- Primitive (1978)
Style & Themes
- Literary Style
- Pared and intense languageObjectivismPhenomenological observation
- Recurring Motifs
- SeascapesNatureSilence
Health
-
Alzheimer's disease1977-1984Caused confusion, failing memory, made writing impossible, died of pneumonia complications
Legacy
One of the Objectivist poets, abandoned poetry for political activism in 1930s, returned in 1958, won Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1969.
Archives
- Mandeville Special Collections Library at UC San Diego
Quotes
-
In this situation, as in so many others, I remember with attentiveness the poetry and example of George Oppen, who wanted to look, to see what was out there, evaluate its damage and contradictions, to say scrupulously in a pared and intense language not what was easy or right or neat or consoling, but what he felt when all the platitudes and banalities were stripped away.
Source: Rachel Blau DuPlessis (2002) -
But what kind of poetry do you understand with one reading that you go on using and remembering all your life? I mean the poetry that's most important to me is poetry that's been important to me for most of my life. I want to go back to it, and I find new things in it.
Source: Mary Oppen
Trivia
- Mother committed suicide when he was four
- Raised in affluent family but poor relation with stepmother
- Expelled from high school just before graduation
- Exiled to Mexico to avoid McCarthyism
- Wounded in WWII and participated in liberating a concentration camp