George Oppen

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. Oppen was born in New Rochelle, New York into a Jewish family. His father was George August Oppenheimer (b. Apr. 13, 1881), a successful diamond merchant, his mother Elsie Rothfeld. His father 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...