"I wanted to write a poem that you would understand. For what good is it to me if you can't understand it?"
Choose Background Style
Recommended Backgrounds
More Backgrounds
About George Oppen
George Oppen was an American poet and a key figure in the Objectivist movement along with his wife Mary Oppen. He was born in 1908 in New Rochelle, New York, and grew up in San Francisco. Oppen's poetry often focused on themes of social justice, nature, and the human experience. He took a break from writing poetry to work as a political activist, but returned to it later in life and won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1969 for his collection 'Of Being Numerous.' Oppen's work is known for its clarity, precision, and profound philosophical insights.
Related Quotes
"A sense of history and a sense of the permanence of language are the ballast any poet needs."
"Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself."
"I wanted to be a doctor, but I fainted at the sight of blood. So I became an artist."
"I always thought I wanted to play professionally, and I always knew that to do that I'd have to make a lot of sacrifices..."
"It is time that we had our own images."