Robert Penn Warren

Robert Penn Warren (born April 24, 1905, Guthrie, Ky., U.S.—died Sept. 15, 1989, Stratton, Vt.) was an American novelist, poet, critic, and teacher, best-known for his treatment of moral dilemmas in a South beset by the erosion of its traditional, rural values. He became the first poet laureate of the United States in 1986. In 1921 Warren entered Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn., where he joined a group of poets who called themselves the Fugitives (q.v.)....