Robert Penn Warren, author of All the Kings Men

At the end of his life, Robert Penn Warren was a Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and poet who had contributed much to literature. He had contributed realistic-story telling and excellent poetry in his lifetime. He also held the esteemed title of Poet Laureate. Throughout his life, he endeavored to explore literature and poetry through a keen sense of understanding of conventions and literary criticism.

History

Warren’s Younger Years

Warren was born in 1905 in Guthrie, Kentucky. He attended Vanderbilt University and become associated with a group of writers known as the Fugitives. These writers included John Crowe Ransom and Allen Tate. This group assisted with the movement known as New Criticism, a literary study that focused on close reading and textual analysis.

” … may of the Fugitives’ discussions focused on poetry and critical theory, Warren’s favorite subjects at the time,” states Poetry Foundation.

He graduated in 1925 and went on teach as a graduate student at the University and received his M.A. in 1927. He would later attend the New College at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. His background in academia, literature, and poetry would inform the rest of his career through award-winning works and pioneering criticism strategies.

Literary Years and Publications

Warren wrote many books, including World Enough and Time, The Circus in the Attic, and All the King’s Men, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1947. It is considered a classic of American literature. As mentioned, Warren was also an accomplished literary critic and co-authored the text Understanding Poetry in 1938. His book features themes of power and corruption, and morality and American history.

also won the Pulitzer prize with the poetry collection Now and Then. Later, he again won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1958 and 1979. He was also named Poet Laureate of the United States in 1986. Sources write that Penn’s verse was “rooted in his Southern heritage” and “grapples with themes of history, memory, and individual responsibility.”

Robert Penn Warren passed away on Sept. 15, 1989.

Here’s a list of his novels in order: