Selfhood and interconnection in the poetry and novels of Robert Penn Warren

In his writing Robert Penn Warren has demonstrated an abiding concern with the problems which make it particularly difficult for modern man to know his place in the world, both in terms of his relationship with nature and with other human beings. Warren has made a significant contribution to twentieth-century literature and thought by what he has had to say on this subject of self-identity.

The approach used in this study was to do close readings of representative selections of Warren's poetry and novels. The goal was to discover the major characteristics involved in Warren's vision of the self.

The readings revealed certain ideas which recur in Warren's work which pertain to the problem of self-identity. There are two pre dominating attitudes in response to a perception of chaos in the modern world which Warren sees as problematic: The individual may cling to idealistic notions of what life should be and refuse to exist in the everyday world, or he may give in to a nihilistic perception and decide that nothing matters. In contrast, a strong sense of self-identity in Warren's works depends on an acknowledgement of the reality of time, deeds and consequences. Warren's characters who achieve self-identity do so because they recognize the significance of past experiences as they relate to the present and the future and because they realize responsibility for themselves in their relationship to a community; hence, their selfhood depends on an awareness of the interconnection of all life.