Diederik (or Dirk) Johannes Opperman, commonly referred to as D.J. Opperman ( 29 September 1914 – 22 September 1985) was a South African

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

Biography

He was born on 29 September 1914 in

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

Natal NATAL or Natal may refer to: Places * Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, a city in Brazil * Natal, South Africa (disambiguation), a region in South Africa ** Natalia Republic, a former country (1839–1843) ** Colony of Natal, a former British colony ( ...

, where he grew up. He went to school in the towns of

Estcourt Estcourt () is a town in the uThukela District of KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa. The main economic activity is farming with large bacon and processed food factories situated around the town. The N3 freeway passes close to the town, link ...

and

Vryheid Vryheid (/Abaqulusi) is a coal mining and cattle ranching town in northern KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Vryheid is the Afrikaans word for "freedom", while its original name of Abaqulusi reflects the AbaQulusi (Zulu), abaQulusi clan based in the loc ...

, and afterwards received an M.A. degree from the

University of Natal The University of Natal was a university in the former South African province Natal which later became KwaZulu-Natal. The University of Natal no longer exists as a distinct legal entity, as it was incorporated into the University of KwaZulu- ...

. He taught at schools in

Pietermaritzburg Pietermaritzburg (; ) is the capital and second-largest city in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa after Durban. It was named in 1838 and is currently governed by the Msunduzi Local Municipality. The town was named in Zulu after King ...

and

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

, and later on became editor of ''

Die Huisgenoot ''Huisgenoot'' (Afrikaans for ''Housemate'') is a weekly South African Afrikaans-language general-interest family magazine. It has the highest circulation figures of any South African magazine and is followed by sister magazine '' YOU'', its En ...

''. In 1949 he became a lecturer at the

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) (, ) is a public university, public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university status in 1918, making it the oldest univer ...

. During this period he completed one of his most important publications – ''Digters van Dertig'' (Poets of the thirties) – in 1953. He won the prestigious Hertzog prize for poetry in 1947 for his collection ''Heilige beeste'' ("Holy cattle"). From 1960 to 1975 he was a professor of Afrikaans at

Stellenbosch University Stellenbosch University (SU) (, ) is a public research university situated in Stellenbosch, a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Stellenbosch is the oldest university in South Africa and the oldest extant university in Sub-Sahara ...

, where he also served on the editorial board of the publication '' Standpunte'' ("Points of View"). He died in 1985 in

Stellenbosch Stellenbosch (; )A Universal Pronouncing Gazetteer.
Thomas Baldwin ...

. He won four Hertzog prizes (in 1947, 1956, 1969 and 1980), four Hofmeyer prizes (in 1954, 1956, 1966 and 1980), two

CNA Prize The Central News Agency Literary Award (CNA Literary Award, CNA Prize) was a major annual literary award in South Africa. It was named for the CNA chain of bookstores. Founded by Phillip Stein, it recognised works in prose and poetry, and in both ...

s (in 1964 and 1980), a prize from the ''"Drie-Eeue Stigting"'' ("Three Centuries Foundation") in 1956, the

Louis Luyt Louis Luyt (18 June 1932 – 1 February 2013) was a South African business tycoon and politician, and one-time rugby administrator. Having been a rugby player as a young man, Luyt went on to become a businessman. He founded Triomf Fertiliser a ...

-prize in 1980 and the

Gustav Preller Gustav Schoeman Preller (4 October 1875 in Klein Schoemansdal, Klipdrift, Pretoria – 7 October 1943 in Pelindaba) was a journalist, historian, writer and literary critic. He fought for the recognition of Afrikaans. Preller helped the Afrika ...

prize for

literary criticism A genre of arts criticism, literary criticism or literary studies is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical analysis of literature's ...

in 1985. The South African composers

Cromwell Everson Cromwell Everson (28 September 1925 – 11 June 1991) was primarily known as a composer during his lifetime. He was brought up as an Afrikaner by his mother, Maria De Wit and father, Robert Everson. He continued this tradition and all his childr ...

and Prof

Piet de Villiers Pieter Johannes de Villiers (19 June 1924 – 18 May 2015) was a South African pianist, organist and composer. His nicknames were "Prof Piet" and "Piet Vingers". He is known for setting Boerneef poems to music, teaching piano and organ, and acco ...

wrote music for some of Opperman's poems, such as ''Kontraste'' and ''Nagstorm oor die see''.

List of works

Poetry

*''Heilige Beeste'' ("Holy cows" 1945) *''Negester oor Ninevé'' ("Nine star over Niniveh" *''Joernaal van Jorik'' ("The Journal of Jorik" 1949) *''Engel uit die klip'' ("Angel from the Stone" 1948) *''Blom en baaierd'' ("Flower and Chaos" or "Flower and Rubble" 1948) *''Dolosse'' ("Large T-shaped concrete bollards used to curb waves breaking close to infrastructure" ) *''Kuns-mis'' ("Fertilizer") *''Edms. Bpk'' ("Pty. Ltd") *''Komas uit 'n bamboesstok'' ("Comas from a Bamboo Pole" 1979)

Verse plays

*''Periandros van Korinthe'' ("Periandros of Corinth" 1954) *''Vergelegen'' (A place name, lit. "faraway" 1956) *''Voëlvry'' ("Outlaw"; lit. "bird-free" 1987)

Essays on literature

*''Wiggelstok'' ("Divining rod") *''Naaldekoker'' Daggaroker ("Dragonfly") *''Verspreide opstelle'' ("Spread-out essays" – the direct opposite of "Collected essays" in Afrikaans)

References

1914 births 1985 deaths People from Umzinyathi District Municipality Afrikaans-language poets Afrikaner people South African male poets Afrikaans-language writers Calvinist and Reformed poets University of Natal alumni Academic staff of the University of Cape Town Hertzog Prize winners for poetry Academic staff of Stellenbosch University 20th-century South African poets 20th-century South African male writers {{SouthAfrica-poet-stub