He was born on 29 September 1914 in
Dundee in
Natal, where he grew up. He went to school in the towns of
Estcourt and
Vryheid, and afterwards received an M.A. degree from the
University of Natal. He taught at schools in
Pietermaritzburg and
Johannesburg, and later on became editor of
Die Huisgenoot. In 1949 he became a lecturer at the
University of Cape Town. 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, where he also served on the editorial board of the publication
Standpunte ("Points of View"). He died in 1985 in
Stellenbosch. He won four
Hertzog prizes (in 1947, 1956, 1969 and 1980), four
Hofmeyer prizes (in 1954, 1956, 1966 and 1980), two
CNA Prizes (in 1964 and 1980), a prize from the
"Drie-Eeue Stigting" ("Three Centuries Foundation") in 1956, the
Louis Luyt-prize in 1980 and the
Gustav Preller prize for
literary criticism in 1985. The South African composers
Cromwell Everson and Prof
Piet de Villiers wrote music for some of Opperman's poems, such as
Kontraste and
Nagstorm oor die see. ==List of works==