Robert Penn Warren (April 24, 1905 – September 15, 1989) was an American poet,

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while othe ...

, 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 ''The Southern Review'' is a quarterly literary magazine that was established by Robert Penn Warren in 1935 at the behest of Charles W. Pipkin and funded by Huey Long as a part of his investment in Louisiana State University. It publishes ficti ...

'' with Cleanth Brooks in 1935. He received the 1947

Pulitzer Prize for the Novel The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes that are annually awarded for Letters, Drama, and Music. It recognizes distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably dealing with American life, published durin ...

for '' All the King's Men'' (1946) and the

Pulitzer Prize for Poetry The Pulitzer Prize for Poetry is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes awarded annually for Letters, Drama, and Music. It was first presented in 1922, and is given for a distinguished volume of original verse by an American author, publishe ...

in 1958 and 1979. He is the only person to have won Pulitzer Prizes for both fiction and poetry.

Early years

Warren was born in Guthrie, Kentucky, very near the

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to ...

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virgini ...

border, to Robert Warren and Anna Penn. Warren's mother's family had roots in Virginia, having given their name to the community of Penn's Store in

Patrick County, Virginia Patrick County is a county located on the central southern border of the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 17,608. Its county seat is Stuart. It is located within both the rolling hills and valleys of the Pied ...

, and she was a descendant of Revolutionary War soldier Colonel Abram Penn. Robert Penn Warren graduated from Clarksville High School in

Clarksville, Tennessee Clarksville is the county seat of Montgomery County, Tennessee, United States. It is the fifth-largest city in the state behind Nashville, Memphis, Knoxville, and Chattanooga. The city had a population of 166,722 as of the 2020 United States ...

;

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...

(

summa cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some So ...

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...

) in 1925; and the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

(M.A.) in 1926. Warren pursued further graduate study at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

from 1927 to 1928 and obtained his B.Litt. as a

Rhodes Scholar The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom. Established in 1902, it is the oldest graduate scholarship in the world. It is considered among the world' ...

from

New College, Oxford New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as its feeder school, New College is one of the oldest colleges at ...

, in England in 1930. He also received a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...

to study in Italy during the rule of

Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in ...

. That same year he began his teaching career at Southwestern College (now

Rhodes College Rhodes College is a private liberal arts college in Memphis, Tennessee. Historically affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA), it is a member of the Associated Colleges of the South and is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges ...

) in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the County seat, seat of Shelby County, Tennessee, Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 Uni ...

Career

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 The Southern Agrarians were twelve American Southerners who wrote an agrarian literary manifesto in 1930. They and their essay collection, ''I’ll Take My Stand: The South and the Agrarian Tradition'', contributed to the Southern Renaissance, ...

. He contributed "The Briar Patch" to the Agrarian manifesto ''

I'll Take My Stand The Southern Agrarians were twelve American Southerners who wrote an agrarian literary manifesto in 1930. They and their essay collection, ''I’ll Take My Stand: The South and the Agrarian Tradition'', contributed to the Southern Renaissance, t ...

'' along with 11 other Southern writers and poets (including fellow Vanderbilt poet/critics

John Crowe Ransom John Crowe Ransom (April 30, 1888 – July 3, 1974) was an American educator, scholar, literary critic, poet, essayist and editor. He is considered to be a founder of the New Criticism school of literary criticism. As a faculty member at Kenyon ...

, 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. However, Warren recanted these views in an article on the

civil rights movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, Racial discrimination ...

, "Divided South Searches Its Soul", which appeared in the July 9, 1956 issue of ''

Life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for Cell growth, growth, reaction to Stimu ...

'' magazine. A month later, Warren published an expanded version of the article as a small book titled ''Segregation: The Inner Conflict in the South''. He subsequently adopted a high profile as a supporter of

racial integration Racial integration, or simply integration, includes desegregation (the process of ending systematic racial segregation). In addition to desegregation, integration includes goals such as leveling barriers to association, creating equal opportun ...

. In 1965, he published ''

Who Speaks for the Negro? ''Who Speaks for the Negro?'' is a 1965 book of interviews by Robert Penn Warren conducted with Civil Rights Movement activists. The book was reissued by Yale University Press in 2014. The Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities at Vande ...

'', a collection of interviews with black civil rights leaders including

Malcolm X Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little, later Malik el-Shabazz; May 19, 1925 – February 21, 1965) was an American Muslim minister and human rights activist who was a prominent figure during the civil rights movement. A spokesman for the Nation of ...

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. 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 Populism refers to a range of political stances that emphasize the idea of "the people" and often juxtapose this group against " the elite". It is frequently associated with anti-establishment and anti-political sentiment. The term develope ...

governor of Louisiana whom Warren was able to observe closely while teaching at

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...

Baton Rouge Baton Rouge ( ; ) is a city in and the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. Located the eastern bank of the Mississippi River, it is the parish seat of East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana's most populous parish—the equivalent of countie ...

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 The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) since the awards debuted in 1929. This award goes to the producers of the film and is the only categor ...

in 1949. There was another film adaptation in 2006 featuring

Sean Penn Sean Justin Penn (born August 17, 1960) is an American actor and film director. He has won two Academy Awards, for his roles in the mystery drama '' Mystic River'' (2003) and the biopic ''Milk'' (2008). Penn began his acting career in televis ...

as Willie Stark. The opera '' Willie Stark'' by

Carlisle Floyd Carlisle Sessions Floyd (June 11, 1926September 30, 2021) was an American composer primarily known for his operas. These stage works, for which he wrote the librettos, typically engage with themes from the American South, particularly the Post- ...

, 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 A poet laureate (plural: poets laureate) is a poet officially appointed by a government or conferring institution, typically expected to compose poems for special events and occasions. Albertino Mussato of Padua and Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch ...

), 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 The National Book Award for Poetry is one of five annual National Book Awards, which are given by the National Book Foundation to recognize outstanding literary work by US citizens. They are awards "by writers to writers".

."National Book Awards – 1958"

National Book Foundation The National Book Foundation (NBF) is an American nonprofit organization established, "to raise the cultural appreciation of great writing in America". Established in 1989 by National Book Awards, Inc.,Edwin McDowell. "Book Notes: 'The Joy Luc ...

. Retrieved March 2, 2012.
(With essay by Kiki Petrosino from the Awards 60-year anniversary blog, and other material on Warren.) In 1974, the

National Endowment for the Humanities The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency of the U.S. government, established by thNational Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965(), dedicated to supporting research, education, preserv ...

selected him for the

Jefferson Lecture The Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities is an honorary lecture series established in 1972 by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). According to the NEH, the Lecture is "the highest honor the federal government confers for distinguished ...

, the U.S. federal government's highest honor for achievement in the

humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture. In the Renaissance, the term contrasted with divinity and referred to what is now called classics, the main area of secular study in universities at th ...

. Warren's lecture was entitled "Poetry and Democracy" (subsequently published under the title ''Democracy and Poetry'').Jefferson Lectures
. National Endowment for the Humanities. Retrieved January 22, 2009. Annual subsites with list of Prior Jefferson Lecturers (1972–1999). In 1977, Warren was awarded the St. Louis Literary Award from the

Saint Louis University Saint Louis University (SLU) is a private Jesuit research university with campuses in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, and Madrid, Spain. Founded in 1818 by Louis William Valentine DuBourg, it is the oldest university west of the Mississip ...

Library Associates. In 1980, Warren was presented with the

Presidential Medal of Freedom The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the highest civilian award of the United States, along with the Congressional Gold Medal. It is an award bestowed by the president of the United States to recognize people who have made "an especially merit ...

by President

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 76th governor of Georgia from 19 ...

. 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 The National Medal of Arts is an award and title created by the United States Congress in 1984, for the purpose of honoring artists and patrons of the arts. A prestigious American honor, it is the highest honor given to artists and arts patrons ...

. Warren was an elected member of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, ...

and the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communi ...

. Warren was co-author, with Cleanth Brooks, of ''

Understanding Poetry ''Understanding Poetry'' was an American college textbook and poetry anthology by Cleanth Brooks and Robert Penn Warren, first published in 1938. The book influenced New Criticism and went through its fourth edition in 1976. The textbook "widel ...

'', 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 Mary Flannery O'Connor (March 25, 1925August 3, 1964) was an American novelist, short story writer and essayist. She wrote two novels and 31 short stories, as well as a number of reviews and commentaries. She was a Southern writer who often ...

, and ''Modern Rhetoric'', which adopted what can be called a

New Critical New Criticism was a formalist movement in literary theory that dominated American literary criticism in the middle decades of the 20th century. It emphasized close reading, particularly of poetry, to discover how a work of literature functioned as ...

perspective.

Personal life

His first marriage was to Emma Brescia. His second marriage was in 1952 to

Eleanor Clark Eleanor Clark (1913 – 1996) was an American writer and "master stylist," best known for her non-fiction accounts. Background Eleanor Clark was born on July 6, 1913, in Los Angeles, California, but grew up in Roxbury, Connecticut. She ...

, 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. He lived the latter part of his life in

Fairfield, Connecticut Fairfield is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. It borders the city of Bridgeport and towns of Trumbull, Easton, Weston, and Westport along the Gold Coast of Connecticut. Located within the New York metropolitan are ...

, 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

In April 2005, the

United States Postal Service The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an Independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the executive branch of the Federal government of the Uni ...

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.

houses the Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities, which is sponsored by the College of Arts and Science. 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. 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

References

;Further reading
''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). * * * List of Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients -- Literature ;Bibliography *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 The Louisiana State University Press (LSU Press) is a university press at Louisiana State University. Founded in 1935, it publishes works of scholarship as well as general interest books. LSU Press is a member of the Association of American Univ ...

, 2009 *Warren, Rosanna "Places - A Memoir of Robert Penn Warren" ''The Southern Review'' Volume 41-2 Spring 2005

External links

Official websiteThe Robert Penn Warren Oral History Archive
(digital exhibit, Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries)
Robert Penn Warren bio at The Fellowship of Southern WritersRobert Penn Warren page at poets.orgRobert Penn Warren page at KYLIT/Kentucky Literature
at

Robert Penn Warren site run by tloufrey@charter.netThe Robert Penn Warren Civil Rights Oral History Project
Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries
The Robert Penn Warren Oral History Project
Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries *

at the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The librar ...

* ''Pulitzer Prize for Poetry''
Guide to the Robert Penn Warren Photograph Collection
at the University of Kentucky.
Guide to the Robert Penn Warren papers, 1916-1967
at the University of Kentucky.
Stuart Wright Collection: Robert Penn Warren Papers (#1169-014), East Carolina Manuscript Collection, J. Y. Joyner Library, East Carolina UniversityStuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library, Emory University: Robert Penn Warren collection, 1964-1989
* Robert Penn Warren Papers. Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
National Portrait Gallery Collection of Robert Penn Warren
{{DEFAULTSORT:Warren, Robert Penn 1905 births 1989 deaths 20th-century American novelists American literary critics American male novelists 20th-century American poets American Poets Laureate American Rhodes Scholars Deaths from bone cancer Formalist poets Louisiana State University faculty MacArthur Fellows National Book Award winners New Criticism People from Guthrie, Kentucky Pulitzer Prize for Poetry winners Pulitzer Prize for the Novel winners United States National Medal of Arts recipients University of California, Berkeley alumni University of Iowa faculty Vanderbilt University alumni Novelists from Kentucky Novelists from Louisiana Writers from Fairfield, Connecticut Yale University faculty Bollingen Prize recipients Deaths from cancer in Vermont Burials in Vermont American male poets Writers of American Southern literature Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients 20th-century American male writers Novelists from Connecticut Novelists from Iowa American male non-fiction writers Robert Meltzer Award winners Southern Agrarians Members of the American Philosophical Society