The Ballad of Billie Potts (Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Robert Penn Warren
- First Published: 1943
- Type of Work: Poem
- Genres: Poetry
- Subjects: United States or Americans, Parents and children, Murder or homicide, Nineteenth century, West, U.S., Robbery or robbers, Hotels, motels, or inns, Kentucky
“The Ballad of Billie Potts” is perhaps the most striking of Warren's early poems. In a little over thirteen pages, it brings together several of the themes that would concern him for a lifetime: the passage from childhood innocence into guilt, the journey that ends with a return to the father or to the place of origin, the undiscovered self, and a certain mysticism that unites each person with humankind and with nature.
Warren prefaced the poem with this note: “When I was a child I heard this story from an old lady who was a relative of mine. The scene, according to her...
[The entire page is 745 words long]
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