Jump to content

Robert Penn Warren: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous edit
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
No edit summary
Cleaned up using AutoEd Adding/improving reference(s)
 
(39 intermediate revisions by 28 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
{{short description|American poet, novelist, and literary critic}}
{{short description|American poet, novelist, and literary critic (1905–1989)}}
{{Infobox writer
{{Infobox writer
| name = Robert Penn Warren
| name = Robert Penn Warren
| image = File:Robert Penn Warren by Oscar White, Pach Brothers Studio, c. 1970, gelatin silver print, from the National Portrait Gallery - NPG-NPG 93 388 37.jpg
| image = File:Robert Penn Warren by Oscar White, Pach Brothers Studio, c. 1970, gelatin silver print, from the National Portrait Gallery - NPG-NPG 93 388 37.jpg
| imagesize = 200px
| caption = Warren in 1968
| caption = Warren in 1968
| birth_date = {{birth date|mf=y|1905|04|24}}
| birth_date = {{birth date|mf=y|1905|04|24}}
| birth_place = [[Guthrie, Kentucky]], U.S.
| birth_place = [[Guthrie, Kentucky]], U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|mf=y|1989|09|15|1905|04|24}}
| death_date = {{nowrap|{{death date and age|mf=y|1989|09|15|1905|04|24}}}}
| death_place = [[Stratton, Vermont]], U.S.
| death_place = [[Stratton, Vermont]], U.S.
| occupation = Writer, critic
| occupation = {{cslist|Writer|critic}}
| alma_mater = [[Vanderbilt University]]<br>[[University of California, Berkeley]]<br>[[New College, Oxford]]<br>[[Yale University]]
| education = {{ubl|[[Vanderbilt University]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])|[[University of California, Berkeley]] ([[Master of Arts|MA]])|[[Yale University]]|[[New College, Oxford]] ([[Bachelor of Letters|BLitt]])}}
| period =
| genre = {{cslist|Poetry|novels}}
| genre = [[Poetry]], [[novels]] <!-- prefer more specific if appropriate -->
| subject =
| movement =
| notableworks =
| spouse =
| influences =
| influenced =
| awards = {{plainlist |
| awards = {{plainlist |
* [[Pulitzer Prize for the Novel]] <small>(1947)</small>
* [[Pulitzer Prize for the Novel]] (1947)
* [[Pulitzer Prize for Poetry]] <small>(1958, 1979)</small>
* [[Pulitzer Prize for Poetry]] (1958, 1979)
* [[Bollingen Prize]] <small>(1967)</small>
* [[Bollingen Prize]] (1967)
* [[Robert Frost Medal]] <small>(1985)</small>
* [[Robert Frost Medal]] (1985)}}
| spouse = {{plainlist |
* Emma "Cinina" Brescia (1929–1951)
* Eleanor Clark (1952 – his death)}}
}}
}}
'''Robert Penn Warren''' (April 24, 1905 – September 15, 1989) was an American poet, novelist, and literary critic and was one of the founders of [[New Criticism]]. He was also a charter member of the [[Fellowship of Southern Writers]]. He founded the literary journal ''[[The Southern Review]]'' with [[Cleanth Brooks]] in 1935. He received the 1947 [[Pulitzer Prize for the Novel]] for ''[[All the King's Men]]'' (1946) and the [[Pulitzer Prize for Poetry]] in 1958 and 1979. He is the only person to have won Pulitzer Prizes for both fiction and poetry.<ref>Nelson, Randy F. ''The Almanac of American Letters''. Los Altos, CA: William Kaufmann, Inc., 1981: 27. {{ISBN|0-86576-008-X}}</ref>
| signature =
}}

'''Robert Penn Warren''' (April 24, 1905 – September 15, 1989) was an American poet, [[novelist]], and literary critic and was one of the founders of [[New Criticism]]. He was also a charter member of the [[Fellowship of Southern Writers]]. He founded the literary journal ''[[The Southern Review]]'' with [[Cleanth Brooks]] in 1935. He received the 1947 [[Pulitzer Prize for the Novel]] for ''[[All the King's Men]]'' (1946) and the [[Pulitzer Prize for Poetry]] in 1958 and 1979. He is the only person to have won Pulitzer Prizes for both fiction and poetry.<ref>Nelson, Randy F. ''The Almanac of American Letters''. Los Altos, California: William Kaufmann, Inc., 1981: 27. {{ISBN|0-86576-008-X}}</ref>


==Early years==
==Early years==
Warren was born in [[Guthrie, Kentucky]], very near the [[Tennessee]]-[[Kentucky]] border, to Robert Warren and Anna Penn.<ref>Ehrlich, Eugene and Gorton Carruth. ''The Oxford Illustrated Literary Guide to the United States''. New York: Oxford University Press, 1982: 291. {{ISBN|0-19-503186-5}}</ref> Warren's mother's family had roots in Virginia, having given their name to the community of Penn's Store in [[Patrick County, Virginia]], and she was a descendant of Revolutionary War soldier Colonel [[Abram Penn]].<ref>[http://www.freestateofpatrick.com/pcpeople.htm Patrick County People, Free State of Patrick] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110711040008/http://www.freestateofpatrick.com/pcpeople.htm |date=2011-07-11 }}</ref>
Warren was born in [[Guthrie, Kentucky]], very near the [[Tennessee]]-[[Kentucky]] border, to Robert Warren and Anna Penn.<ref>Ehrlich, Eugene and Gorton Carruth. ''The Oxford Illustrated Literary Guide to the United States''. New York: Oxford University Press, 1982: 291. {{ISBN|0-19-503186-5}}</ref> Warren's mother's family had roots in Virginia, having given their name to the community of Penn's Store in [[Patrick County, Virginia]], and she was a descendant of Revolutionary War soldier Colonel [[Abram Penn]].<ref>[http://www.freestateofpatrick.com/pcpeople.htm Patrick County People, Free State of Patrick] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110711040008/http://www.freestateofpatrick.com/pcpeople.htm |date=2011-07-11 }}</ref>


In 1921 his left eye was removed as the result of an accident with his brother, which canceled his appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy. That summer, he published in "The Messkit" his first poem "Prophecy." After graduating from a private high school at age 15, his mother enrolled him in [[Clarksville High School (Tennessee)|Clarksville High School]] in [[Clarksville, Tennessee]] for a year because she thought he was too young to go to college. In the fall of 1921, at age 16, he entered [[Vanderbilt University]] in Nashville, Tennessee, graduating in the summer of 1925 [[summa cum laude]], [[Phi Beta Kappa]], and Founder's Medalist. That fall, he entered the [[University of California, Berkeley]] as a graduate student and teaching assistant, and upon receiving his M.A. in 1927, entered [[Yale University]] on a fellowship. In October 1928 he entered [[New College, Oxford]], in England as a Rhodes Scholar and received his B.Litt. in the spring of 1930.<ref>https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/7523/robert-penn-warren</ref> He also received a [[Guggenheim Fellowship]] to study in Italy during the rule of [[Benito Mussolini]]. That same year he began his teaching career at Southwestern College (now [[Rhodes College]]) in [[Memphis, Tennessee]].
After he had graduated from a private high school at age 15, his mother enrolled him in [[Clarksville High School (Tennessee)|Clarksville High School]] in [[Clarksville, Tennessee]] for a year because she thought he was too young to go to college. In 1921 his left eye was removed as the result of an accident with his brother, which canceled his appointment to the [[U.S. Naval Academy]]. That summer, he published in "The Messkit" his first poem "Prophecy." In the fall of 1921, at age 16, he entered [[Vanderbilt University]] in Nashville, Tennessee, graduating in the summer of 1925 ''[[summa cum laude]]'', [[Phi Beta Kappa]], and Founder's Medalist. That fall, he entered the [[University of California, Berkeley]], as a graduate student and teaching assistant, and upon receiving his M.A. in 1927, entered [[Yale University]] on a fellowship. In October 1928 he entered [[New College, Oxford]], in England as a [[Rhodes Scholarship|Rhodes Scholar]] and received his B.Litt. in the spring of 1930. He also received a [[Guggenheim Fellowship]] to study in Italy during the rule of [[Benito Mussolini]]. That same year he began his teaching career at Southwestern College (now [[Rhodes College]]) in [[Memphis, Tennessee]].


==Career==
==Career==
While still an undergraduate at Vanderbilt University, Warren became associated with the group of poets there known as the [[Fugitives (poets)|Fugitives]], and somewhat later, during the early 1930s, Warren and some of the same writers formed a group known as the [[Southern Agrarians]]. He contributed "The Briar Patch" to the [[Agrarianism|Agrarian]] manifesto ''[[I'll Take My Stand]]'' along with 11 other Southern writers and poets (including fellow Vanderbilt poet/critics [[John Crowe Ransom]], [[Allen Tate]], and [[Donald Davidson (poet)|Donald Davidson]]). In "The Briar Patch" the young Warren defends racial segregation, in line with the political leanings of the Agrarian group, although Davidson deemed Warren's stances in the essay so progressive that he argued for excluding it from the collection.<ref>Wood, Edwin Thomas. "On Native Soil: A Visit with Robert Penn Warren," ''Mississippi Quarterly'' 38 (Winter 1984)</ref> However, Warren recanted these views in an article on the [[civil rights movement]], "Divided South Searches Its Soul", which appeared in the July 9, 1956 issue of ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' magazine. A month later, Warren published an expanded version of the article as a small book titled ''Segregation: The Inner Conflict in the South''.<ref>Metress, Christopher. [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb3549/is_n1_v32/ai_n28666757/ "Fighting battles one by one: Robert Penn Warren's ''Segregation''"]{{dead link|date=May 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, ''The Southern Review'', Winter 1996.</ref> He subsequently adopted a high profile as a supporter of [[racial integration]]. In 1965, he published ''[[Who Speaks for the Negro?]]'', a collection of interviews with black civil rights leaders including [[Malcolm X]] and [[Martin Luther King Jr.]], thus further distinguishing his political leanings from the more conservative philosophies associated with fellow Agrarians such as Tate, [[Cleanth Brooks]], and particularly Davidson. Warren's interviews with civil rights leaders are at the [[Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History]] at the University of Kentucky.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://kentuckyoralhistory.org/ark:/16417/xt7m901zgp82| title = Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History}}</ref>
While still an undergraduate at Vanderbilt University, Warren became associated with the group of poets there known as the [[Fugitives (poets)|Fugitives]], and somewhat later, during the early 1930s, Warren and some of the same writers formed a group known as the [[Southern Agrarians]]. He contributed "The Briar Patch" to the [[Agrarianism|Agrarian]] manifesto ''[[I'll Take My Stand]]'' along with 11 other Southern writers and poets (including fellow Vanderbilt poet/critics [[John Crowe Ransom]], [[Allen Tate]], and [[Donald Davidson (poet)|Donald Davidson]]). In "The Briar Patch" the young Warren defends racial segregation, in line with the political leanings of the Agrarian group, although Davidson deemed Warren's stances in the essay so progressive that he argued for excluding it from the collection.<ref>Wood, Edwin Thomas. "On Native Soil: A Visit with Robert Penn Warren," ''Mississippi Quarterly'' 38 (Winter 1984)</ref> However, Warren recanted these views in an article on the [[civil rights movement]], "Divided South Searches Its Soul", which appeared in the July 9, 1956 issue of ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' magazine. A month later, Warren published an expanded version of the article as a small book titled ''Segregation: The Inner Conflict in the South''.<ref>Metress, Christopher. [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb3549/is_n1_v32/ai_n28666757/ "Fighting battles one by one: Robert Penn Warren's ''Segregation''"]{{dead link|date=May 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, ''The Southern Review'', Winter 1996.</ref> He subsequently adopted a high profile as a supporter of [[racial integration]]. In 1965, he published ''[[Who Speaks for the Negro?]]'', a collection of interviews with black civil rights leaders including [[Malcolm X]] and [[Martin Luther King Jr.]], thus further distinguishing his political leanings from the more conservative philosophies associated with fellow Agrarians such as Tate, [[Cleanth Brooks]], and particularly Davidson. Warren's interviews with [[Civil rights movement|civil rights]] leaders are at the [[Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History]] at the University of Kentucky.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://kentuckyoralhistory.org/ark:/16417/xt7m901zgp82| title = Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History}}</ref>


Warren's best-known work is ''[[All the King's Men]]'', a novel that won the [[Pulitzer Prize]] in 1947. Main character [[All the King's Men#Willie Stark|Willie Stark]] resembles [[Huey Pierce Long]] (1893–1935), the radical [[Populism|populist]] [[List of governors of Louisiana|governor of Louisiana]] whom Warren was able to observe closely while teaching at [[Louisiana State University]] in [[Baton Rouge]] from 1933 to 1942. The [[All the King's Men (1949 film)|1949 film by the same name]] was highly successful, starring [[Broderick Crawford]] and winning the [[Academy Award for Best Picture]] in 1949. There was another [[All the King's Men (2006 film)|film adaptation in 2006]] featuring [[Sean Penn]] as Willie Stark. The opera ''[[Willie Stark]]'' by [[Carlisle Floyd]], to his own [[libretto]] based on the novel, was first performed in 1981.
Warren's best-known work is ''[[All the King's Men]]'', a novel that won the [[Pulitzer Prize]] in 1947. Main character [[All the King's Men#Willie Stark|Willie Stark]] resembles [[Huey Pierce Long]] (1893–1935), the radical [[Populism|populist]] [[List of governors of Louisiana|governor of Louisiana]] whom Warren was able to observe closely while teaching at [[Louisiana State University]] in [[Baton Rouge]] from 1933 to 1942. The [[All the King's Men (1949 film)|1949 film by the same name]] was highly successful, starring [[Broderick Crawford]] and winning the [[Academy Award for Best Picture]] in 1949. There was another [[All the King's Men (2006 film)|film adaptation in 2006]] featuring [[Sean Penn]] as Willie Stark. The opera ''[[Willie Stark]]'' by [[Carlisle Floyd]], to his own [[libretto]] based on the novel, was first performed in 1981.
Line 42: Line 34:
Warren served as the [[Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress]], 1944–1945 (later termed [[Poet Laureate]]), and won two Pulitzer Prizes in poetry, in 1958 for ''Promises: Poems 1954–1956'' and in 1979 for ''Now and Then''. ''Promises'' also won the annual [[National Book Award for Poetry]].<ref name=nba1958>
Warren served as the [[Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress]], 1944–1945 (later termed [[Poet Laureate]]), and won two Pulitzer Prizes in poetry, in 1958 for ''Promises: Poems 1954–1956'' and in 1979 for ''Now and Then''. ''Promises'' also won the annual [[National Book Award for Poetry]].<ref name=nba1958>
[https://www.nationalbook.org/awards-prizes/national-book-awards-1958 "National Book Awards – 1958"]. [[National Book Foundation]]. Retrieved March 2, 2012.
[https://www.nationalbook.org/awards-prizes/national-book-awards-1958 "National Book Awards – 1958"]. [[National Book Foundation]]. Retrieved March 2, 2012.
<br/>(With essay by Kiki Petrosino from the Awards 60-year anniversary blog, and other material on Warren.)</ref>
<br />(With essay by Kiki Petrosino from the Awards 60-year anniversary blog, and other material on Warren.)</ref>


In 1974, the [[National Endowment for the Humanities]] selected him for the [[Jefferson Lecture]], the U.S. federal government's highest honor for achievement in the [[humanities]]. Warren's lecture was entitled "Poetry and Democracy" (subsequently published under the title ''Democracy and Poetry'').<ref name="jefflect">[http://www.neh.gov/whoweare/jefflect.html Jefferson Lectures] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111020121101/http://www.neh.gov///whoweare/jefflect.html |date=2011-10-20 }}. National Endowment for the Humanities. Retrieved January 22, 2009. Annual subsites with list of Prior Jefferson Lecturers (1972–1999).</ref><ref>[http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674196261 "''Democracy and Poetry'': Robert Penn Warren"] (publisher display). Harvard University Press. Retrieved September 7, 2013.</ref> In 1977, Warren was awarded the [[St. Louis Literary Award]] from the [[Saint Louis University]] Library Associates.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.slu.edu/libraries/associates/award.html |title=Website of St. Louis Literary Award |access-date=2016-07-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160823003924/http://www.slu.edu/libraries/associates/award.html |archive-date=2016-08-23 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://lib.slu.edu/about/associates/literary-award |title=Recipients of the St. Louis Literary Award |author=Saint Louis University Library Associates |access-date=July 25, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160731082313/http://lib.slu.edu/about/associates/literary-award |archive-date=July 31, 2016 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}</ref> In 1980, Warren was presented with the [[Presidential Medal of Freedom]] by President [[Jimmy Carter]]. In 1981, Warren was selected as a [[MacArthur Fellow]] and later was named as the first U.S. [[Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry]] on February 26, 1986. In 1987, he was awarded the [[National Medal of Arts]].<ref>[http://www.nea.gov/honors/medals/medalists_year.html#87 Lifetime Honors - National Medal of Arts] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721054307/http://www.nea.gov/honors/medals/medalists_year.html |date=2011-07-21 }}</ref> Warren was an elected member of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]] and the [[American Philosophical Society]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Robert Penn Warren |url=https://www.amacad.org/person/robert-penn-warren |access-date=2022-11-18 |website=American Academy of Arts & Sciences |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=APS Member History |url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Robert+Penn+Warren&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced |access-date=2022-11-18 |website=search.amphilsoc.org}}</ref>
In 1974, the [[National Endowment for the Humanities]] selected him for the [[Jefferson Lecture]], the U.S. federal government's highest honor for achievement in the [[humanities]]. Warren's lecture was entitled "Poetry and Democracy" (subsequently published under the title ''Democracy and Poetry'').<ref name="jefflect">[http://www.neh.gov/whoweare/jefflect.html Jefferson Lectures] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111020121101/http://www.neh.gov///whoweare/jefflect.html |date=2011-10-20 }}. National Endowment for the Humanities. Retrieved January 22, 2009. Annual subsites with list of Prior Jefferson Lecturers (1972–1999).</ref><ref>[http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674196261 "''Democracy and Poetry'': Robert Penn Warren"] (publisher display). Harvard University Press. Retrieved September 7, 2013.</ref> In 1977, Warren was awarded the [[St. Louis Literary Award]] from the [[Saint Louis University]] Library Associates.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.slu.edu/libraries/associates/award.html |title=Website of St. Louis Literary Award |access-date=2016-07-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160823003924/http://www.slu.edu/libraries/associates/award.html |archive-date=2016-08-23 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://lib.slu.edu/about/associates/literary-award |title=Recipients of the St. Louis Literary Award |author=Saint Louis University Library Associates |access-date=July 25, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160731082313/http://lib.slu.edu/about/associates/literary-award |archive-date=July 31, 2016 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}</ref> In 1980, Warren was presented with the [[Presidential Medal of Freedom]] by President [[Jimmy Carter]]. In 1981, Warren was selected as a [[MacArthur Fellow]] and later was named as the first U.S. [[Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry]] on February 26, 1986. In 1987, he was awarded the [[National Medal of Arts]].<ref>[http://www.nea.gov/honors/medals/medalists_year.html#87 Lifetime Honors – National Medal of Arts] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721054307/http://www.nea.gov/honors/medals/medalists_year.html |date=2011-07-21 }}</ref> Warren was an elected member of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]] and the [[American Philosophical Society]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Robert Penn Warren |url=https://www.amacad.org/person/robert-penn-warren |access-date=2022-11-18 |website=American Academy of Arts & Sciences |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=APS Member History |url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Robert+Penn+Warren&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced |access-date=2022-11-18 |website=search.amphilsoc.org}}</ref>


Warren was co-author, with [[Cleanth Brooks]], of ''[[Understanding Poetry]]'', an influential literature textbook. It was followed by other similarly co-authored textbooks, including ''Understanding Fiction'', which was praised by [[Southern Gothic]] and Roman Catholic writer [[Flannery O'Connor]], and ''Modern Rhetoric'', which adopted what can be called a [[New Critical]] perspective.
Warren was co-author, with [[Cleanth Brooks]], of ''[[Understanding Poetry]]'', an influential literature textbook. It was followed by other similarly co-authored textbooks, including ''Understanding Fiction'', which was praised by [[Southern Gothic]] and Roman Catholic writer [[Flannery O'Connor]], and ''Modern Rhetoric'', which adopted what can be called a [[New Critical]] perspective.


==Personal life==
==Personal life==
His first marriage was to Emma Brescia. His second marriage was in 1952 to [[Eleanor Clark]], with whom he had two children, [[Rosanna Warren|Rosanna Phelps Warren]] (born 1953) and Gabriel Penn Warren (born 1955). During his tenure at Louisiana State University he resided at Twin Oaks (otherwise known as the [[Robert Penn Warren House]]) in Prairieville, Louisiana.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.crt.state.la.us/hp/nationalregister/nhl/parish03/scans/03018001.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2013-10-18 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131019140957/http://www.crt.state.la.us/hp/nationalregister/nhl/parish03/scans/03018001.pdf |archive-date=2013-10-19 }}</ref> He lived the latter part of his life in [[Fairfield, Connecticut]], and [[Stratton, Vermont]], where he died of complications from prostate cancer. He is buried at Stratton, Vermont, and, at his request, a memorial marker is situated in the Warren family gravesite in Guthrie, Kentucky.
His first marriage was to Emma Brescia.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Jarman |first=Mark |date=1997 |title=A Story of Deep Delight: The Life of Robert Penn Warren |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3853181 |journal=The Hudson Review |volume=50 |issue=3 |pages=435–443 |doi=10.2307/3853181 |jstor=3853181 }}</ref> His second marriage was in 1952 to [[Eleanor Clark]], with whom he had two children, [[Rosanna Warren|Rosanna Phelps Warren]] (born 1953) and Gabriel Penn Warren (born 1955). During his tenure at Louisiana State University he resided at Twin Oaks (otherwise known as the [[Robert Penn Warren House]]) in Prairieville, Louisiana.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.crt.state.la.us/hp/nationalregister/nhl/parish03/scans/03018001.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2013-10-18 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131019140957/http://www.crt.state.la.us/hp/nationalregister/nhl/parish03/scans/03018001.pdf |archive-date=2013-10-19 }}</ref> He lived the latter part of his life in [[Fairfield, Connecticut]], and [[Stratton, Vermont]], where he died of complications from prostate cancer. He is buried at Stratton, Vermont, and, at his request, a memorial marker is situated in the Warren family gravesite in [[Guthrie, Kentucky|Guthrie]], Kentucky.


==Legacy==
==Legacy==
In April 2005, the [[United States Postal Service]] issued a commemorative stamp to mark the 100th anniversary of Warren's birth. Introduced at the post office in his native Guthrie, it depicts the author as he appeared in a 1948 photograph, with a background scene of a political rally designed to evoke the setting of ''All the King's Men''. His son and daughter, Gabriel and [[Rosanna Warren]], were in attendance.
In April 2005, the [[United States Postal Service]] issued a commemorative stamp to mark the 100th anniversary of Warren's birth. Introduced at the post office in his native Guthrie, it depicts the author as he appeared in a 1948 photograph, with a background scene of a political rally designed to evoke the setting of ''All the King's Men''. His son and daughter, Gabriel and [[Rosanna Warren]], were in attendance.


[[Vanderbilt University]] houses the Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities, which is sponsored by the College of Arts and Science.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.vanderbilt.edu/rpw_center/| title = Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities}}</ref> It began its programs in January 1988, and in 1989 received a $480,000 Challenge Grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. The center promotes "interdisciplinary research and study in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences."
Vanderbilt University houses the Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities, which is sponsored by the College of Arts and Science.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.vanderbilt.edu/rpw_center/| title = Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities}}</ref> It began its programs in January 1988, and in 1989 received a $480,000 Challenge Grant from the [[National Endowment for the Humanities]]. The Center promotes "interdisciplinary research and study in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences."


The high school that Robert Penn Warren attended, Clarksville High School (Tennessee), was renovated into an apartment complex in 1982. The original name of the apartments was changed to The Penn Warren in 2010.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Penn Warren - History|url=http://thepennwarren.com/history/|website=ThePennWarren.com|access-date=24 September 2014}}</ref>
The high school that Robert Penn Warren attended, Clarksville High School (Tennessee), was renovated into an apartment complex in 1982. The original name of the apartments was changed to The Penn Warren in 2010.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Penn Warren – History|url=http://thepennwarren.com/history/|website=ThePennWarren.com|access-date=24 September 2014|archive-date=18 October 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141018234218/http://thepennwarren.com/history/|url-status=dead}}</ref>


In 2014 Vanderbilt University opened the doors to Warren College, one of the first 2 residential colleges at the university, along with Moore College.
In 2014 Vanderbilt University opened the doors to Warren College, one of the first 2 residential colleges at the university, along with Moore College.


He was a Charter member of the [[Fellowship of Southern Writers]].
He was a charter member of the [[Fellowship of Southern Writers]].


==Works==
==Works==
{|Evening Hawk
| valign="top" |
*''John Brown: The Making of a Martyr'' (1929)
*''Old and Blind'' (1931)
*"A French View of Jefferson," Rev. of ''Thomas Jefferson: The Apostle of Americanism''. by [[Gilbert Chinard]]. (1930)<ref>"A French View of Jefferson," Rev. of ''Thomas Jefferson: The Apostle of Americanism''. by Gilbert Chinard. The ''New Republic'', Apr 2, 1930: 196-7. [https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=8337]{{Dead link|date=October 2022|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=2Tvuz75j4KIC&pg=PA20&dq=%22Gilbert+Chinard%22+critics&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb&sa=X&#v=onepage&q=%22Gilbert%20Chinard%22%20196&f=false]</ref>
*''Thirty-Six Poems'' (Alcestis Press; December 3, 1935 in a limited edition of 165 copies)
*''An Approach to Literature'' (1938), with [[Cleanth Brooks]] and John Thibaut Purser
*''[[Understanding Poetry]]'' (1939), with Cleanth Brooks
*''[[Night Rider (novel)|Night Rider]]'' (1939). Novel
*''Eleven Poems on the Same Theme'' (1942)
*''[[At Heaven's Gate]]'' (1943). Novel
*''Understanding Fiction'' (1943), with Cleanth Brooks
*''Selected Poems, 1923–1943'' (1944)
*"Melville the Poet" (1946). ''The Kenyon Review'' 8(2), pp. 208-223.
*''[[All the King's Men]]'' (1946). Novel
*''Blackberry Winter: A Story Illustrated by Wightman Williams'' (1946)
*''The Circus in the Attic, and Other Stories'' (1947)
*''Fundamentals of Good Writing: A Handbook of Modern Rhetoric'' (1950), with Cleanth Brooks
*''World Enough and Time'' (1950). Novel
*''Brother to Dragons: A Tale in Verse and Voices'' (1953)
*''Band of Angels'' (1955). Novel
*''Segregation: The Inner Conflict in the South'' (1956)
*''Promises: Poems: 1954–1956'' (1957)
*''Selected Essays'' (1958)
*''Remember the Alamo!'' (1958). For children
*''The Cave'' (1959). Novel
*''The Gods of Mount Olympus'' (1959). For children
*''How Texas Won Her Freedom'' (1959). For children
*''All the King's Men: A Play'' (1960)
*''You, Emperors, and Others: Poems 1957–1960'' (1960)
*''The Legacy of the Civil War'' (1961)
| valign="top" |
*''Wilderness: A Tale of the Civil War'' (1961). Novel
*''Flood: A Romance of Our Time'' (1964). Novel
*''[[Who Speaks for the Negro?]]'' (1965)
*''Selected Poems: New and Old 1923–1966'' (1966)
*''Incarnations: Poems 1966–1968'' (1968)
*''Audubon: A Vision'' (1969). Book-length poem
*''Homage to Theodor Dreiser'' (1971)
*''[[John Greenleaf Whittier]]'s Poetry: An Appraisal and a Selection'' (1971)
*''Meet Me in the Green Glen'' (1971). Novel
*''American Literature: The Makers and the Making'' (1974), with Cleanth Brooks and [[R.W.B. Lewis]]
*''Or Else: Poem/Poems 1968–1974'' (1974)
*''Democracy and Poetry'' (1975)
*''Selected Poems: 1923–1975'' (1976)
*''A Place to Come to'' (1977). Novel
*''Now and Then: Poems 1976–1978'' (1978)
*''Brother to Dragons: A Tale in Verse and Voices - A New Version'' (1979)
*''Being Here: Poetry 1977–1980'' (1980)
*''Jefferson Davis Gets His Citizenship Back'' (1980)
*''Rumor Verified: Poems 1979–1980'' (1981)
*''Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce'' (1983). Book-length poem
*''New and Selected Poems: 1923–1985'' (1985)
*''Portrait of a Father'' (1988)
*''New and Selected Essays'' (1989)
*''The Collected Poems'' (1998), edited by John Burt
*''All the King's Men: Three Stage Versions'' (2000), edited by James A. Grimshaw, Jr. and James A. Perkins
*''All the King's Men: Restored Edition'' (2002), edited by Noel Polk
*''The Poets Laureate Anthology'' (W. W. Norton & Company, 2010)
|}


==References==
===Poems===
* ''Old and Blind'' (1931)
* ''Thirty-Six Poems'' (Alcestis Press; December 3, 1935 in a limited edition of 165 copies)
* ''Eleven Poems on the Same Theme'' (1942)
* ''Selected Poems, 1923–1943'' (1944)
* ''Brother to Dragons: A Tale in Verse and Voices'' (1953)
* ''Promises: Poems: 1954–1956'' (1957)
* ''You, Emperors, and Others: Poems 1957–1960'' (1960)
* ''Selected Poems: New and Old 1923–1966'' (1966)
* ''Incarnations: Poems 1966–1968'' (1968)
* ''Audubon: A Vision'' (1969). Book-length poem
* ''Or Else: Poem/Poems 1968–1974'' (1974)
* ''Selected Poems: 1923–1975'' (1976)
* ''Now and Then: Poems 1976–1978'' (1978)
* ''Brother to Dragons: A Tale in Verse and Voices – A New Version'' (1979)
* ''Being Here: Poetry 1977–1980'' (1980)
* ''Rumor Verified: Poems 1979–1980'' (1981)
* ''Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce'' (1983). Book-length poem
* ''New and Selected Poems: 1923–1985'' (1985)
* ''Portrait of a Father'' (1988)
* ''The Collected Poems'' (1998), edited by John Burt
* ''The Poets Laureate Anthology'' (W. W. Norton & Company, 2010)


===Prose===

====Novels====
* ''[[Night Rider (novel)|Night Rider]]'' (1939). Novel
* ''[[At Heaven's Gate]]'' (1943). Novel
* ''[[All the King's Men]]'' (1946). Novel
* ''[[Blackberry Winter (short story)|Blackberry Winter]]: A Story Illustrated by Wightman Williams'' (1946)
* ''World Enough and Time'' (1950). Novel
* ''[[Band of Angels (novel)|Band of Angels]]'' (1955). Novel
* ''The Cave'' (1959). Novel
* ''Wilderness: A Tale of the Civil War'' (1961). Novel
* ''Flood: A Romance of Our Time'' (1964). Novel
* ''Meet Me in the Green Glen'' (1971). Novel
* ''A Place to Come to'' (1977). Novel
* ''All the King's Men: Restored Edition'' (2002), edited by Noel Polk

====Short story collections====
* ''[[The Circus in the Attic and Other Stories]]'' (1947)

===Nonfiction===
* ''John Brown: The Making of a Martyr'' (1929)
* ''An Approach to Literature'' (1938), with [[Cleanth Brooks]] and John Thibaut Purser
* ''[[Understanding Poetry]]'' (1939), with Cleanth Brooks
* ''Understanding Fiction'' (1943), with Cleanth Brooks
* ''Fundamentals of Good Writing: A Handbook of Modern Rhetoric'' (1950), with Cleanth Brooks
* ''Segregation: The Inner Conflict in the South'' (1956)
* ''Selected Essays'' (1958)
* ''The Legacy of the Civil War'' (1961)
* ''[[Who Speaks for the Negro?]]'' (1965)
* ''Homage to Theodor Dreiser'' (1971)
* ''[[John Greenleaf Whittier]]'s Poetry: An Appraisal and a Selection'' (1971)
* ''American Literature: The Makers and the Making'' (1974), with Cleanth Brooks and [[R.W.B. Lewis]]
* ''Democracy and Poetry'' (1975)
* ''Jefferson Davis Gets His Citizenship Back'' (1980)
* ''New and Selected Essays'' (1989)

===Plays===
* ''All the King's Men: A Play'' (1960)
* ''All the King's Men: Three Stage Versions'' (2000), edited by James A. Grimshaw Jr. and James A. Perkins

===Children's books===
* ''Remember the Alamo!'' (1958). For children
* ''The Gods of Mount Olympus'' (1959). For children
* ''How Texas Won Her Freedom'' (1959). For children

==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{Reflist}}


;Further reading {{clarify|date=September 2013}}
;Further reading
*[http://www.clemson.edu/cedp/press/scr/volumes/scr_38-2.htm ''The South Carolina Review'', vol. 38, no. 2] (Spring 2006) features 6 articles related to Robert Penn Warren, all available online (as of November 2014).
* [http://www.clemson.edu/cedp/press/scr/volumes/scr_38-2.htm ''The South Carolina Review'', vol. 38, no. 2] (Spring 2006) features 6 articles related to Robert Penn Warren, all available online (as of November 2014).
*{{cite book|last=Winchell|first=Mark Royden|title=Robert Penn Warren: Genius Loves Company|url=http://www.clemson.edu/cedp/press/pubs/winchell/index.html|place=Clemson, SC|publisher=Clemson University Digital Press|year=2007}}
* {{cite book|last=Winchell|first=Mark Royden|title=Robert Penn Warren: Genius Loves Company|url=http://www.clemson.edu/cedp/press/pubs/winchell/index.html|place=Clemson, SC|publisher=Clemson University Digital Press|year=2007}}
*{{cite book |title=Encyclopedia of Kentucky |publisher=Somerset Publishers |location=New York, New York |year=1987 |isbn=0-403-09981-1 |pages=188–189}}
* {{cite book |title=Encyclopedia of Kentucky |publisher=Somerset Publishers |location=New York |year=1987 |isbn=0-403-09981-1 |pages=188–189}}
*[[List of Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients#Literature|List of Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients -- Literature]]
* [[List of Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients#Literature|List of Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients – Literature]]


;Bibliography {{clarify|date=September 2013}}
;Bibliography {{clarify|date=September 2013}}
*Millichap, Joseph R.. ''Robert Penn Warren after Audubon:The Work of Aging and the Quest for Transcendence in His Later Poetry''. Baton Rouge, LA. :[[Louisiana State University Press]], 2009 {{ISBN|978-0-8071-3456-6}}
* Millichap, Joseph R.. ''Robert Penn Warren after Audubon:The Work of Aging and the Quest for Transcendence in His Later Poetry''. Baton Rouge, LA. :[[Louisiana State University Press]], 2009 {{ISBN|978-0-8071-3456-6}}
*Warren, Rosanna "Places - A Memoir of Robert Penn Warren" ''The Southern Review'' Volume 41-2 Spring 2005
* Warren, Rosanna "Places – A Memoir of Robert Penn Warren" ''The Southern Review'' Volume 41–2 Spring 2005


==External links==
==External links==
{{commons category}}
{{commons category}}
{{wikiquote}}
{{wikiquote}}
*[http://www.robertpennwarren.com/ Official website]
* [http://www.robertpennwarren.com/ Official website]
*[https://www.nunncenter.net/robertpennwarren/ The Robert Penn Warren Oral History Archive] (digital exhibit, Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries)
* [https://www.nunncenter.net/robertpennwarren/ The Robert Penn Warren Oral History Archive] (digital exhibit, Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries)
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070319233118/http://thefsw.org/page/members/charter-members/robert-penn-warren Robert Penn Warren bio at The Fellowship of Southern Writers]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070319233118/http://thefsw.org/page/members/charter-members/robert-penn-warren Robert Penn Warren bio at The Fellowship of Southern Writers]
*[http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/17 Robert Penn Warren page at poets.org]
* [http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/17 Robert Penn Warren page at poets.org]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20041208124620/http://www.english.eku.edu/SERVICES/KYLIT/WARREN.HTM Robert Penn Warren page at KYLIT/Kentucky Literature]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20041208124620/http://www.english.eku.edu/SERVICES/KYLIT/WARREN.HTM Robert Penn Warren page at KYLIT/Kentucky Literature]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20101224092431/http://www.vanderbilt.edu/rpw_center/center.htm Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities] at [[Vanderbilt University]]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20101224092431/http://www.vanderbilt.edu/rpw_center/center.htm Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities] at [[Vanderbilt University]]
*[http://www.robertpennwarren.com Robert Penn Warren site run by tloufrey@charter.net]
* [http://www.robertpennwarren.com Robert Penn Warren site run by tloufrey@charter.net]
*[https://kentuckyoralhistory.org/ark:/16417/xt7m901zgp82 The Robert Penn Warren Civil Rights Oral History Project], Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries
* [https://kentuckyoralhistory.org/ark:/16417/xt7m901zgp82 The Robert Penn Warren Civil Rights Oral History Project], Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries
*[https://kentuckyoralhistory.org/ark:/16417/xt7r222r7z2f The Robert Penn Warren Oral History Project], Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries
* [https://kentuckyoralhistory.org/ark:/16417/xt7r222r7z2f The Robert Penn Warren Oral History Project], Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries
*{{cite journal| url=http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/4868/the-art-of-fiction-no-18-robert-penn-warren| journal=The Paris Review| title=Robert Penn Warren, The Art of Fiction No. 18| author=Eugene Walter and Ralph Ellison| date=Spring–Summer 1957 | volume=Spring-Summer 1957| issue=16}}
* {{cite journal| url=http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/4868/the-art-of-fiction-no-18-robert-penn-warren| journal=The Paris Review| title=Robert Penn Warren, The Art of Fiction No. 18| author=Eugene Walter and Ralph Ellison| date=Spring–Summer 1957 | volume=Spring-Summer 1957| issue=16}}
*[https://www.loc.gov/poetry/laureate-1937-1960.html Timeline of Poets Laureate] at the [[Library of Congress]]
* [https://www.loc.gov/poetry/laureate-1937-1960.html Timeline of Poets Laureate] at the [[Library of Congress]]
*[[Pulitzer Prize for Poetry#1950s|''Pulitzer Prize for Poetry'']]
* [[Pulitzer Prize for Poetry#1950s|''Pulitzer Prize for Poetry'']]
*[http://kdl.kyvl.org/cgi/f/findaid/findaid-idx?c=kyead;cc=kyead;q1=robert%20penn%20warren;rgn=main;view=text;didno=kukav81pa104 Guide to the Robert Penn Warren Photograph Collection]{{dead link|date=April 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} at the University of Kentucky.
* [http://kdl.kyvl.org/cgi/f/findaid/findaid-idx?c=kyead;cc=kyead;q1=robert%20penn%20warren;rgn=main;view=text;didno=kukav81pa104 Guide to the Robert Penn Warren Photograph Collection]{{dead link|date=April 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} at the University of Kentucky.
*[http://kdl.kyvl.org/cgi/f/findaid/findaid-idx?c=kyead;cc=kyead;q1=robert%20penn%20warren;rgn=main;view=text;didno=kukm1m78m1 Guide to the Robert Penn Warren papers, 1916-1967]{{dead link|date=April 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} at the University of Kentucky.
* [http://kdl.kyvl.org/cgi/f/findaid/findaid-idx?c=kyead;cc=kyead;q1=robert%20penn%20warren;rgn=main;view=text;didno=kukm1m78m1 Guide to the Robert Penn Warren papers, 1916–1967]{{dead link|date=April 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} at the University of Kentucky.
*[https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/special/ead/findingaids/1169-014 Stuart Wright Collection: Robert Penn Warren Papers (#1169-014), East Carolina Manuscript Collection, J. Y. Joyner Library, East Carolina University]
* [https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/special/ead/findingaids/1169-014 Stuart Wright Collection: Robert Penn Warren Papers (#1169-014), East Carolina Manuscript Collection, J. Y. Joyner Library, East Carolina University]
*[http://pid.emory.edu/ark:/25593/900sg Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library, Emory University: Robert Penn Warren collection, 1964-1989]
* [http://pid.emory.edu/ark:/25593/900sg Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library, Emory University: Robert Penn Warren collection, 1964–1989]
*[[hdl:10079/fa/beinecke.warren|Robert Penn Warren Papers]]. Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
* [[hdl:10079/fa/beinecke.warren|Robert Penn Warren Papers]]. Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
*[https://npg.si.edu/search/collections?edan_q=Robert%20Penn%20Warren National Portrait Gallery Collection of Robert Penn Warren]
* [https://npg.si.edu/search/collections?edan_q=Robert%20Penn%20Warren National Portrait Gallery Collection of Robert Penn Warren]
* {{IMDb name|id=0913014|name=Robert Penn Warren}}


{{Robert Penn Warren}}
{{Robert Penn Warren}}
Line 182: Line 182:
[[Category:American Poets Laureate]]
[[Category:American Poets Laureate]]
[[Category:American Rhodes Scholars]]
[[Category:American Rhodes Scholars]]
[[Category:Deaths from prostate cancer]]
[[Category:Deaths from prostate cancer in the United States]]
[[Category:Formalist poets]]
[[Category:Formalist poets]]
[[Category:Louisiana State University faculty]]
[[Category:Louisiana State University faculty]]
Line 201: Line 201:
[[Category:Bollingen Prize recipients]]
[[Category:Bollingen Prize recipients]]
[[Category:Deaths from cancer in Vermont]]
[[Category:Deaths from cancer in Vermont]]
[[Category:Burials in Vermont]]
[[Category:American male poets]]
[[Category:American male poets]]
[[Category:Writers of American Southern literature]]
[[Category:Writers of American Southern literature]]

Latest revision as of 02:35, 19 November 2024

Robert Penn Warren
Warren in 1968
Warren in 1968
Born(1905-04-24)April 24, 1905
Guthrie, Kentucky, U.S.
DiedSeptember 15, 1989(1989-09-15) (aged 84)
Stratton, Vermont, U.S.
Occupation
  • Writer
  • critic
Education
Genre
  • Poetry
  • novels
Notable awards
Spouse
  • Emma "Cinina" Brescia (1929–1951)
  • Eleanor Clark (1952 – his death)

Robert Penn Warren (April 24, 1905 – September 15, 1989) was an American poet, novelist, and literary critic and was one of the founders of New Criticism. He was also a charter member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers. He founded the literary journal The Southern Review with Cleanth Brooks in 1935. He received the 1947 Pulitzer Prize for the Novel for All the King's Men (1946) and the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1958 and 1979. He is the only person to have won Pulitzer Prizes for both fiction and poetry.[1]

Early years

[edit]

Warren was born in Guthrie, Kentucky, very near the Tennessee-Kentucky border, to Robert Warren and Anna Penn.[2] Warren's mother's family had roots in Virginia, having given their name to the community of Penn's Store in Patrick County, Virginia, and she was a descendant of Revolutionary War soldier Colonel Abram Penn.[3]

After he had graduated from a private high school at age 15, his mother enrolled him in Clarksville High School in Clarksville, Tennessee for a year because she thought he was too young to go to college. In 1921 his left eye was removed as the result of an accident with his brother, which canceled his appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy. That summer, he published in "The Messkit" his first poem "Prophecy." In the fall of 1921, at age 16, he entered Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, graduating in the summer of 1925 summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, and Founder's Medalist. That fall, he entered the University of California, Berkeley, as a graduate student and teaching assistant, and upon receiving his M.A. in 1927, entered Yale University on a fellowship. In October 1928 he entered New College, Oxford, in England as a Rhodes Scholar and received his B.Litt. in the spring of 1930. He also received a Guggenheim Fellowship to study in Italy during the rule of Benito Mussolini. That same year he began his teaching career at Southwestern College (now Rhodes College) in Memphis, Tennessee.

Career

[edit]

While still an undergraduate at Vanderbilt University, Warren became associated with the group of poets there known as the Fugitives, and somewhat later, during the early 1930s, Warren and some of the same writers formed a group known as the Southern Agrarians. He contributed "The Briar Patch" to the Agrarian manifesto I'll Take My Stand along with 11 other Southern writers and poets (including fellow Vanderbilt poet/critics John Crowe Ransom, Allen Tate, and Donald Davidson). In "The Briar Patch" the young Warren defends racial segregation, in line with the political leanings of the Agrarian group, although Davidson deemed Warren's stances in the essay so progressive that he argued for excluding it from the collection.[4] However, Warren recanted these views in an article on the civil rights movement, "Divided South Searches Its Soul", which appeared in the July 9, 1956 issue of Life magazine. A month later, Warren published an expanded version of the article as a small book titled Segregation: The Inner Conflict in the South.[5] He subsequently adopted a high profile as a supporter of racial integration. In 1965, he published Who Speaks for the Negro?, a collection of interviews with black civil rights leaders including Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr., thus further distinguishing his political leanings from the more conservative philosophies associated with fellow Agrarians such as Tate, Cleanth Brooks, and particularly Davidson. Warren's interviews with civil rights leaders are at the Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History at the University of Kentucky.[6]

Warren's best-known work is All the King's Men, a novel that won the Pulitzer Prize in 1947. Main character Willie Stark resembles Huey Pierce Long (1893–1935), the radical populist governor of Louisiana whom Warren was able to observe closely while teaching at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge from 1933 to 1942. The 1949 film by the same name was highly successful, starring Broderick Crawford and winning the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1949. There was another film adaptation in 2006 featuring Sean Penn as Willie Stark. The opera Willie Stark by Carlisle Floyd, to his own libretto based on the novel, was first performed in 1981.

Warren served as the Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress, 1944–1945 (later termed Poet Laureate), and won two Pulitzer Prizes in poetry, in 1958 for Promises: Poems 1954–1956 and in 1979 for Now and Then. Promises also won the annual National Book Award for Poetry.[7]

In 1974, the National Endowment for the Humanities selected him for the Jefferson Lecture, the U.S. federal government's highest honor for achievement in the humanities. Warren's lecture was entitled "Poetry and Democracy" (subsequently published under the title Democracy and Poetry).[8][9] In 1977, Warren was awarded the St. Louis Literary Award from the Saint Louis University Library Associates.[10][11] In 1980, Warren was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Jimmy Carter. In 1981, Warren was selected as a MacArthur Fellow and later was named as the first U.S. Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry on February 26, 1986. In 1987, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts.[12] Warren was an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society.[13][14]

Warren was co-author, with Cleanth Brooks, of Understanding Poetry, an influential literature textbook. It was followed by other similarly co-authored textbooks, including Understanding Fiction, which was praised by Southern Gothic and Roman Catholic writer Flannery O'Connor, and Modern Rhetoric, which adopted what can be called a New Critical perspective.

Personal life

[edit]

His first marriage was to Emma Brescia.[15] His second marriage was in 1952 to Eleanor Clark, with whom he had two children, Rosanna Phelps Warren (born 1953) and Gabriel Penn Warren (born 1955). During his tenure at Louisiana State University he resided at Twin Oaks (otherwise known as the Robert Penn Warren House) in Prairieville, Louisiana.[16] He lived the latter part of his life in Fairfield, Connecticut, and Stratton, Vermont, where he died of complications from prostate cancer. He is buried at Stratton, Vermont, and, at his request, a memorial marker is situated in the Warren family gravesite in Guthrie, Kentucky.

Legacy

[edit]

In April 2005, the United States Postal Service issued a commemorative stamp to mark the 100th anniversary of Warren's birth. Introduced at the post office in his native Guthrie, it depicts the author as he appeared in a 1948 photograph, with a background scene of a political rally designed to evoke the setting of All the King's Men. His son and daughter, Gabriel and Rosanna Warren, were in attendance.

Vanderbilt University houses the Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities, which is sponsored by the College of Arts and Science.[17] It began its programs in January 1988, and in 1989 received a $480,000 Challenge Grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. The Center promotes "interdisciplinary research and study in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences."

The high school that Robert Penn Warren attended, Clarksville High School (Tennessee), was renovated into an apartment complex in 1982. The original name of the apartments was changed to The Penn Warren in 2010.[18]

In 2014 Vanderbilt University opened the doors to Warren College, one of the first 2 residential colleges at the university, along with Moore College.

He was a charter member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers.

Works

[edit]

Poems

[edit]
  • Old and Blind (1931)
  • Thirty-Six Poems (Alcestis Press; December 3, 1935 in a limited edition of 165 copies)
  • Eleven Poems on the Same Theme (1942)
  • Selected Poems, 1923–1943 (1944)
  • Brother to Dragons: A Tale in Verse and Voices (1953)
  • Promises: Poems: 1954–1956 (1957)
  • You, Emperors, and Others: Poems 1957–1960 (1960)
  • Selected Poems: New and Old 1923–1966 (1966)
  • Incarnations: Poems 1966–1968 (1968)
  • Audubon: A Vision (1969). Book-length poem
  • Or Else: Poem/Poems 1968–1974 (1974)
  • Selected Poems: 1923–1975 (1976)
  • Now and Then: Poems 1976–1978 (1978)
  • Brother to Dragons: A Tale in Verse and Voices – A New Version (1979)
  • Being Here: Poetry 1977–1980 (1980)
  • Rumor Verified: Poems 1979–1980 (1981)
  • Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce (1983). Book-length poem
  • New and Selected Poems: 1923–1985 (1985)
  • Portrait of a Father (1988)
  • The Collected Poems (1998), edited by John Burt
  • The Poets Laureate Anthology (W. W. Norton & Company, 2010)

Prose

[edit]

Novels

[edit]
  • Night Rider (1939). Novel
  • At Heaven's Gate (1943). Novel
  • All the King's Men (1946). Novel
  • Blackberry Winter: A Story Illustrated by Wightman Williams (1946)
  • World Enough and Time (1950). Novel
  • Band of Angels (1955). Novel
  • The Cave (1959). Novel
  • Wilderness: A Tale of the Civil War (1961). Novel
  • Flood: A Romance of Our Time (1964). Novel
  • Meet Me in the Green Glen (1971). Novel
  • A Place to Come to (1977). Novel
  • All the King's Men: Restored Edition (2002), edited by Noel Polk

Short story collections

[edit]

Nonfiction

[edit]
  • John Brown: The Making of a Martyr (1929)
  • An Approach to Literature (1938), with Cleanth Brooks and John Thibaut Purser
  • Understanding Poetry (1939), with Cleanth Brooks
  • Understanding Fiction (1943), with Cleanth Brooks
  • Fundamentals of Good Writing: A Handbook of Modern Rhetoric (1950), with Cleanth Brooks
  • Segregation: The Inner Conflict in the South (1956)
  • Selected Essays (1958)
  • The Legacy of the Civil War (1961)
  • Who Speaks for the Negro? (1965)
  • Homage to Theodor Dreiser (1971)
  • John Greenleaf Whittier's Poetry: An Appraisal and a Selection (1971)
  • American Literature: The Makers and the Making (1974), with Cleanth Brooks and R.W.B. Lewis
  • Democracy and Poetry (1975)
  • Jefferson Davis Gets His Citizenship Back (1980)
  • New and Selected Essays (1989)

Plays

[edit]
  • All the King's Men: A Play (1960)
  • All the King's Men: Three Stage Versions (2000), edited by James A. Grimshaw Jr. and James A. Perkins

Children's books

[edit]
  • Remember the Alamo! (1958). For children
  • The Gods of Mount Olympus (1959). For children
  • How Texas Won Her Freedom (1959). For children

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Nelson, Randy F. The Almanac of American Letters. Los Altos, CA: William Kaufmann, Inc., 1981: 27. ISBN 0-86576-008-X
  2. ^ Ehrlich, Eugene and Gorton Carruth. The Oxford Illustrated Literary Guide to the United States. New York: Oxford University Press, 1982: 291. ISBN 0-19-503186-5
  3. ^ Patrick County People, Free State of Patrick Archived 2011-07-11 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ Wood, Edwin Thomas. "On Native Soil: A Visit with Robert Penn Warren," Mississippi Quarterly 38 (Winter 1984)
  5. ^ Metress, Christopher. "Fighting battles one by one: Robert Penn Warren's Segregation"[permanent dead link‍], The Southern Review, Winter 1996.
  6. ^ "Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History".
  7. ^ "National Book Awards – 1958". National Book Foundation. Retrieved March 2, 2012.
    (With essay by Kiki Petrosino from the Awards 60-year anniversary blog, and other material on Warren.)
  8. ^ Jefferson Lectures Archived 2011-10-20 at the Wayback Machine. National Endowment for the Humanities. Retrieved January 22, 2009. Annual subsites with list of Prior Jefferson Lecturers (1972–1999).
  9. ^ "Democracy and Poetry: Robert Penn Warren" (publisher display). Harvard University Press. Retrieved September 7, 2013.
  10. ^ "Website of St. Louis Literary Award". Archived from the original on 2016-08-23. Retrieved 2016-07-26.
  11. ^ Saint Louis University Library Associates. "Recipients of the St. Louis Literary Award". Archived from the original on July 31, 2016. Retrieved July 25, 2016.
  12. ^ Lifetime Honors – National Medal of Arts Archived 2011-07-21 at the Wayback Machine
  13. ^ "Robert Penn Warren". American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Retrieved 2022-11-18.
  14. ^ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved 2022-11-18.
  15. ^ Jarman, Mark (1997). "A Story of Deep Delight: The Life of Robert Penn Warren". The Hudson Review. 50 (3): 435–443. doi:10.2307/3853181. JSTOR 3853181.
  16. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-10-19. Retrieved 2013-10-18.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  17. ^ "Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities".
  18. ^ "The Penn Warren – History". ThePennWarren.com. Archived from the original on 18 October 2014. Retrieved 24 September 2014.
Further reading
Bibliography [clarification needed]
  • Millichap, Joseph R.. Robert Penn Warren after Audubon:The Work of Aging and the Quest for Transcendence in His Later Poetry. Baton Rouge, LA. :Louisiana State University Press, 2009 ISBN 978-0-8071-3456-6
  • Warren, Rosanna "Places – A Memoir of Robert Penn Warren" The Southern Review Volume 41–2 Spring 2005
[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Robert Penn Warren.
Wikiquote has quotations related to Robert Penn Warren.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Robert_Penn_Warren&oldid=1258324441"