George Oppen has had one of the most unusual careers of any American poet. He published his first collection of poems in 1934, but his second did not appear until 1962. He did not even write during this interim, partly because of his involvement in political activism and partly because of the necessity to flee from the consequences of his actions. Since returning to his poetry, Oppen has firmly established himself as an important artist; he won the Pulitzer Prize for Of Being Numerous in 1969.

Oppen was born in New Rochelle, New York, and grew up in a well-to-do family in San Francisco. In 1926, he briefly attended what is now Oregon State University, where he met Mary Colby. After they stayed out all night on their first date, she was expelled and he was suspended. He voluntarily left school soon afterward. Mary Oppen writes in her autobiography, Meaning a Life...