University of Virginia Library

Warren To Speak
On Founder's Day

Robert Penn Warren, nationally
known Southern writer, will discuss "The
Sense of the Past" when he delivers the
annual Founder's Day address at the
University April 13.

Mr. Warren, who has distinguished
himself as poet, novelist, essayist and
critic, will speak at 11 a.m. in Cabell Hall.

Co-sponsored by the University and
the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation,
Founder's Day this year celebrates
Jefferson's 227th birthday.

One of only a few American writers to prove
himself equally important in writing poetry and
fiction, Mr. Warren received the 1947 Pulitzer.
Prize for fiction for his novel "All the King's
Men" and the 1958 Pulitzer Prize for poetry for
"Promises." "All the King's Men," later also an
award-winning movie, was modeled around the
life of Huey Long, Louisiana governor and
United States senator in the 1920's and 1930's.

Now professor of English at Yale University,
Mr. Warren is also one of only a few American
writers who have become national figures while
remaining regional writers.

Equally important with Mr. Warren's poetry
and fiction writing has been his work as a
literary critic. "Understanding Poetry," which
he wrote with Cleanth Brooks, influenced a
whole generation of college and university
literature teachers and students and remains
one of the best known college English
textbooks.

Mr. Warren also is the author of three books
of historical and social commentary: "Segregation,"
"Who Speaks for the Negro?" and "The
Legacy of the Civil War."

Born in Guthrie, Ky., in 1905, the author
was graduated from Vanderbilt University in
1925 where later he joined with John Crowe
Ransom, Donald Davidson, Allen Tate and
others in the vanguard of the Southern agrarian
movement of the 1930's.

Other highlights of the Founder's Day
assembly will be presentation of the Thomas
Jefferson Award to an outstanding member of
the University community and the Thomas
Jefferson Memorial Foundation medal in
architecture to a noted architect. Last year
Oron J. Hale, professor of history at the
University, and John Ely Burchard, authority
on architecture and urban planning, were the
recipients.

In the afternoon, beginning at 2:30 in Cabell
Hall, Student Council will sponsor a University-wide

forum on present day concerns of the
University.

During the morning program, students
receiving intermediate honors and members of
the honorary societies Phi Beta Kappa, Tau
Beta Pi, Sigma Xi, Alpha Omega Alpha and
Beta Gamma Sigma also will be honored.