| Compiled by Peter Armenti, Digital Reference Specialist
On February 26, 1986, Librarian of Congress Daniel J. Boorstin
announced the appointment of Robert Penn Warren as the first Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry. In making the appointment, Dr. Boorstin said of Warren, who had previously served as Consultant in Poetry from 1944-45:
Robert Penn Warren is a characteristically American man of letters in the range and versatility of his writings and in his feelings for the promise and the frustrations of American life. He has high attainments in poetry, fiction, criticism, and social commentary.... If there is any person today whose work unites our American in its splendid variety, that person is Robert Penn Warren.
Warren served one term as poet laureate, finishing his duties in spring 1987.
This guide compiles
links to resources on Robert Penn Warren throughout the Library
of Congress Web site, as well as links to external Web sites
that include features on his life or selections
of his work. To suggest additions to this guide, please contact the Digital Reference Section.
Library of Congress Web Site
•Articles, Notices
•Features and Documents
•Video
•Print Resources
External
Web Sites
•Biographical Information, Poetry
•Interviews, Articles, and Conversations
•Audio Recordings
•Videos
•Articles and Essays by Robert Penn Warren
•Criticism
•Resources for Study and Teaching
•Robert Penn Warren in the News
(Some links open PDF files. Download a free version of the Adobe Reader.)
Articles, Notices
Announcement of Robert Penn Warren's Appointment as Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress
Special Order No. 102, Office of the Librarian, Library of Congress, May 9, 1944
"Robert Penn Warren is Named First Poet Laureate, Poetry Consultant" (PDF, 520 KB)
Library of Congress Information Bulletin, March 10, 1986
Features and Documents
Today in History
A brief overview of Robert Penn Warren's life and work with links to primary sources.
Correspondence and Photographs
Materials related to Robert Penn Warren from the online American Memory collection Freedom's Fortress The Library of Congress, 1939-1953.
Video
Robert Penn Warren (1:00:19)
Poet Vision Video Series, March 4, 1988
Print Resources
Works by Robert Penn Warren in the Library of Congress online
catalog can be found under the following author heading:
Warren, Robert Penn, 1905-1989
Works about Robert Penn Warren can be found in the Library of
Congress online catalog under
subject headings that begin Warren, Robert Penn, 1905-1989.
Biographical Information, Poetry
Academy of American Poets
Biography of Robert Penn Warren, samples of his poetry,
selected bibliography, and links to external resources.
KYLIT - A Site Devoted to Kentucky Writers
Biography of Robert Penn Warren, and brief annotations of his major publications.
Interviews, Articles, and Conversations
Willie Stark and the Long, Thinning Shadow of Robert Penn Warren's All the King’s Men"
The Virginia Quarterly Review 80, no. 4 (Fall 2004)
"Robert Penn Warren, Poet and Author, Dies"
The New York Times, September 16, 1989
"Robert Penn Warren"
The Paris Review 16, no. 18 (Spring-Summer 1957)
Audio Recordings
Radio Programs
Willie Stark Lives On (07:53)
All Things Considered, NPR, September 8, 2008
Readers Review: All the King's Men, by Robert Penn Warren (51:20)
The Diane Rehm Show, WAMU, April 30, 2008
Robert Penn Warren - Three Stories Performed (59:11)
Trinity Rep Radio Theater, September 6, 2007
All the King's Men (clip ends 02:08)
All Things Considered, NPR, October 21, 1996
Creative Mind: The Writer as Creator (31:47)
WGBH Forum Network
Other Audio
All the King's Men - Slate's Audio Book Club (51:35)
Slate, March 13, 2008
A Good Book on a Fall Day
Maine Humanities Council Podcasts, November 2007
Reads "The Nature of a Mirror"
The Academy of American Poets
Who Speaks for the Negro?
An archival collection of interviews conducted by Robert Penn Warren for his book Who Speaks for the Negro? Site includes digitized versions of the original reel-to-reel recordings, as well as copies of the correspondence, transcripts, and other printed materials related to his research for the provocatively-titled book.
Videos
Prophets & Poets: The History of Modern Southern Literature (07:14)
The American Novel, PBS
Articles and Essays by Robert Penn Warren
Warren on Warren
From the Modern American Poetry Web site
Criticism
Articles from BNET (findarticles.com)
BNET provides access to many free, full-text critical articles on Robert Penn Warren's work. Examples include:
"The Conservative Aesthetic of Warren's Early Poetry"
Style, Summer 2002
"Corruption and Innocence in Robert Penn Warren's Fiction"
Modern Age, Spring 2005
"'A Critical Sense Worthy of Respect': John Marston and the Early Poetics of Robert Penn Warren"
Style, Summer 2002
"Robert Penn Warren and the Poetics of Purity"
Style, Summer 2002
"Theological reflections on Robert Penn Warren's All the King's Men"
Modern Age, Fall 2006
Other Online Criticism
Robert Penn Warren: Genius Loves Company (PDF, 749 KB)
Ed. Mark Royden Winchell. Clemson, SC: Clemson U Digital, 2007
"'The World of Daniel Boone': Robert Penn Warren's Return to Boone Country"
Border States: Journal of the Kentucky-Tennessee American Studies Association, no. 11 (1997)
Print Criticism
Perspectives in American Literature
Bibliography of Warren's primary writings, as well as a selected bibliography of book-length criticism from 1980-present.
Resources for Study and Teaching
eNotes.com
Critical information on Warren from Thomson Gale's Poetry Criticism series.
Modern American Poetry
Excerpts of criticism about Warren's poetry, a biographical essay, selected poems, and links to external resources.
Perspectives in American Literature
Bibliography of Warren's primary writings, as well as a selected bibliography of book-length criticism from 1980-present.
Robert Penn Warren in the News
Google
News search on Robert Penn Warren
Blog entries onRobert Penn Warren, via Technorati
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