CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) – In 1905, Robert Penn Warren was born in Guthrie, Kentucky, just over the border from Tennessee. He grew up there, immersed in literature and language, and graduated from The Guthrie School at just 15 years old.
“He’d read all the books in the house, and he thought he’d like to go to Vanderbilt,” explained Linda Crenshaw, a professor of English at Austin Peay State University. “The story goes that his mother said, ‘I’m not quite ready for you to go to college. You’re 15.’ So the compromise was that he came to Clarksville and did his senior year of high school at Clarksville High School. The information I have is that he rode the train from Guthrie to Clarksville every day to go to school.”
Warren certainly left his mark at Clarksville High School and played a key role as the editor-in-chief of the school’s magazine called The Purple and Gold.
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“One of the most important writers in the 20th century came from this area, never forgot about this area, always had a connection with this area,” Crenshaw said…