Robert Penn Warren facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Robert Penn Warren
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Warren in 1968
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| Born | April 24, 1905 Guthrie, Kentucky, US |
| Died | September 15, 1989 (aged 84) Stratton, Vermont, US |
| Occupation | Writer, critic |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Vanderbilt University University of California, Berkeley University of Oxford Yale University |
| Genre | Poetry, novels |
| Notable awards |
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Robert Penn Warren (born April 24, 1905 – died September 15, 1989) was an important American writer. He was a talented poet, a novelist who wrote exciting stories, and a literary critic who studied books deeply. He helped start a way of looking at literature called New Criticism.
Warren was also a founding member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers. He helped create a literary magazine called The Southern Review in 1935. He won the famous Pulitzer Prize for his novel All the King's Men in 1947. He also won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry twice, in 1958 and 1979. This makes him the only person ever to win Pulitzer Prizes for both fiction (stories) and poetry!
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Robert Penn Warren's Early Life
Robert Penn Warren was born in Guthrie, Kentucky, a town very close to the border between Tennessee and Kentucky. His parents were Robert Warren and Anna Penn. His mother's family came from Virginia and had a long history there.
Warren went to Clarksville High School in Clarksville, Tennessee. He then studied at Vanderbilt University, where he graduated with top honors in 1925. He continued his education at the University of California, Berkeley, earning a master's degree in 1926. He also studied at Yale University and later became a Rhodes Scholar at New College, Oxford, in England. He even received a special grant to study in Italy. In 1930, he began his career as a teacher at Southwestern College (now Rhodes College) in Memphis, Tennessee.
Warren's Writing Career
While he was still a student at Vanderbilt University, Robert Penn Warren joined a group of poets called the Fugitives. Later, in the 1930s, he and some of these writers formed another group known as the Southern Agrarians. This group believed in the importance of farming and traditional Southern life.
At first, Warren held some views that supported racial separation. However, he later changed his mind. In 1956, he wrote an article for Life magazine called "Divided South Searches Its Soul," where he talked about the movement for equal rights. He then wrote a book called Segregation: The Inner Conflict in the South, showing his support for racial integration, which means bringing people of all races together. In 1965, he published Who Speaks for the Negro?, a collection of interviews with important civil rights leaders like Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr.. These interviews showed how much his views had changed.
All the King's Men and Its Impact
Warren's most famous book is All the King's Men. This novel won the Pulitzer Prize in 1947. The main character, Willie Stark, is much like Huey Long, a powerful governor of Louisiana whom Warren had observed closely. Warren taught at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana from 1933 to 1942, which helped him write the book.
All the King's Men was made into a very successful movie in 1949, winning the Academy Award for Best Picture. Another film version was made in 2006. There was even an opera based on the novel called Willie Stark.
Awards and Recognition
Robert Penn Warren was a highly honored writer. He served as the Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 1944 to 1945. This role is now called the Poet Laureate of the United States. He won two Pulitzer Prizes for his poetry: in 1958 for Promises: Poems 1954–1956 and in 1979 for Now and Then. Promises also won the National Book Award for Poetry.
In 1974, he received the Jefferson Lecture, which is the highest honor the U.S. government gives for achievements in the humanities (subjects like history, literature, and philosophy). In 1980, President Jimmy Carter gave him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, one of the highest civilian awards in the United States. In 1986, he became the first official U.S. Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry. He also received the National Medal of Arts in 1987.
Warren also wrote important textbooks with Cleanth Brooks, including Understanding Poetry and Understanding Fiction. These books helped many students learn about literature.
Robert Penn Warren's Family Life
Robert Penn Warren was married twice. His first wife was Emma Brescia. In 1952, he married Eleanor Clark. They had two children, Rosanna Phelps Warren (born in 1953) and Gabriel Penn Warren (born in 1955).
He lived in Fairfield, Connecticut, and Stratton, Vermont, later in his life. He passed away in Stratton, Vermont, on September 15, 1989, due to prostate cancer. He is buried in Stratton, and a special marker was placed in his family's gravesite in Guthrie, Kentucky, as he wished.
Warren's Lasting Legacy
Robert Penn Warren's work continues to be important today. In April 2005, the United States Postal Service released a special stamp to celebrate 100 years since his birth. The stamp showed him as he looked in 1948, with a background that reminded people of his famous novel All the King's Men.
Vanderbilt University has a special place called the Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities. This center helps people study different subjects like literature, history, and science together.
The high school Robert Penn Warren attended, Clarksville High School, was turned into apartments in 1982. In 2010, the apartments were renamed "The Penn Warren" in his honor. In 2014, Vanderbilt University opened Warren College, a new living and learning community for students.
Major Works by Robert Penn Warren
- John Brown: The Making of a Martyr (1929)
- Night Rider (1939). A novel.
- Understanding Poetry (1939), with Cleanth Brooks.
- At Heaven's Gate (1943). A novel.
- All the King's Men (1946). His famous novel.
- World Enough and Time (1950). A novel.
- Brother to Dragons: A Tale in Verse and Voices (1953). A long poem.
- Band of Angels (1955). A novel.
- Segregation: The Inner Conflict in the South (1956). A book about civil rights.
- Promises: Poems: 1954–1956 (1957). Won a Pulitzer Prize.
- Remember the Alamo! (1958). A book for children.
- The Cave (1959). A novel.
- The Gods of Mount Olympus (1959). A book for children.
- Who Speaks for the Negro? (1965). Interviews with civil rights leaders.
- Audubon: A Vision (1969). A book-length poem.
- Meet Me in the Green Glen (1971). A novel.
- Democracy and Poetry (1975). An important lecture.
- A Place to Come to (1977). A novel.
- Now and Then: Poems 1976–1978 (1978). Won a Pulitzer Prize.
- Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce (1983). A book-length poem.
See also
In Spanish: Robert Penn Warren para niños
