Warren, Robert Penn, 1905–89, American novelist, poet, and critic, b. Guthrie, Ky., grad. Vanderbilt Univ. 1925; M.A., Univ. of California 1927; B.Litt., Oxford 1930. At Vanderbilt he became associated with John Crowe Ransom ransom, price of redemption demanded by the captor of a person, vessel, or city. In ancient times cities frequently paid ransom to prevent their plundering by captors. The custom of ransoming was formerly sanctioned by law.
..... Click the link for more information. and the group of Southern agrarian poets who made the Fugitive (1922–25) an important literary magazine. He was managing editor with Cleanth Brooks of the Southern Review. Warren first gained recognition as a poet. His early verse was much influenced by the metaphysical poets metaphysical poets, name given to a group of English lyric poets of the 17th cent. The term was first used by Samuel Johnson (1744). The hallmark of their poetry is the metaphysical conceit (a figure of speech that employs unusual and paradoxical images), a reliance
..... Click the link for more information. , but his later poetry is simpler and more regional. Among his volumes of poetry are Thirty-six Poems (1935); Brother to Dragons (1953; Pulitzer), a long, dramatic poem; Promises (1957; Pulitzer), Selected Poems: New and Old (1966), Incarnations (1968), Audubon: A Vision (1969), Or Else (1974), and New and Selected Poems 1923–1985 (1985). Warren's most famous novel is All the King's Men (1946; Pulitzer), which concerns the rise to power of a political demagogue resembling Huey Long Russell Billiu Long, 1918–2003, b. Shreveport, La., was also a politician. A graduate of the Louisiana State University (1941) and its law school (1942), he served (1948–87) as U.S. senator from Louisiana.
..... Click the link for more information. . Among his other novels are World Enough and Time (1950), The Cave (1959), Wilderness (1961), Flood (1964), Meet Me in the Green Glen (1971), and A Place to Come To (1977). His other works include a collection of short stories, The Circus in the Attic (1948), and Selected Essays (1958). In 1986 he became the first poet laureate of the United States.

Bibliography

See biography by J. Blotner (1997); correspondence with C. Brooks (1998), ed. by J. A. Grimshaw, Jr.; studies by C. Bohner (1964, rev. ed. 1981), J. Justus (1981), and K. Snipes (1984).

Warren, Robert Penn

(born April 24, 1905, Guthrie, Ky., U.S.—died Sept. 15, 1989, Stratton, Vt.) U.S. novelist, poet, and critic. Warren attended Vanderbilt University, where he joined the Fugitives, a group of poets who advocated the agrarian way of life in the South. Later he taught at several colleges and universities and helped found and edit The Southern Review (1935–42), possibly the most influential American literary magazine of the time. His writings often treat moral dilemmas in a South beset by the erosion of its traditional rural values. His best-known novel is All the King's Men (1946, Pulitzer Prize; film, 1949). The short-story volume The Circus in the Attic (1948) contains the notable “Blackberry Winter.” He won Pulitzer prizes for poetry in 1958 and 1979 and became the first U.S. poet laureate in 1986.

Warren, Robert Penn (1905–89) poet, writer; born in Guthrie, Ky. He studied at Vanderbilt University (B.A. 1925), the University of California: Berkeley (M.A. 1927), Yale (1927–28), and Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar (B. Litt. 1930). At college he had joined with other poets known as the "Fugitives" or "Southern agrarians" to promote Southern conservative values, even defending segregation in I'll Take My Stand (1930), but from the 1950s on he was outspoken in demanding that the South change its ways. He taught at many institutions, primarily Yale (1961–73), and was named the first official Poet Laureate of the United States (1986), among many other honors. Based in Fairfield, Conn., he worked as an editor, wrote critical essays, poetry, and novels; the most famous of his novels is All the King's Men (1946), based on the career of Huey Long. He was also a founder and editor of the Southern Review (1935–42) and an advisory editor of Kenyon Review (1938–68).