This prolific creativity has arguably made Warren his nation's foremost living man of letters—"America's Dean of Letters," according to a 25 August 1980
Newsweek essay.
Far from imagining such a future, Warren, the son of Robert Franklin and Ruth Penn Warren, grew up in the small town of Guthrie, Kentucky, wanting to be a sea captain. After dividing his boyhood years between his grandfather's farm in summer and his family home during school terms, he obtained an appointment to enroll as a naval cadet at Annapolis. While he was waiting for the appointment to become active, however, a serious eye injury changed his plans, and he instead matriculated at Vanderbilt University in 1921 with the intention of becoming an electrical engineer.
During his freshman year an English course with John Crowe Ransom along with the influence of Alien Tate, an older student whom he met early in 1923, combined to kindle Warren's passion for literature, leading him to become part of Nashville's Fugitive group, so named after their literary magazine of the mid 1920s. During these formative years Tate and Ransom helped shape Warren's poetic style both through their own examples (Ransom's verse being especially instructive) and through their respective affinities.
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