This link has been bookmarked by 8 people . It was first bookmarked on 23 Apr 2008, by Wisely.
-
20 May 13
-
23 Apr 08
-
Ransom primarily wrote short poems examining the ironic and unsentimental nature of life, with domestic life being a major theme. Arguably Nashville's greatest author, he was also an Agrarian, and Southern poet. An example of his Southern style is his poem "Janet Waking," which "...mixes modernist with old-fashioned country rhetoric" (Tillinghast 1997).
-
Agrarian theorist
In 1930, Ransom along with 11 other Southern Agrarians published the Agrarian manifesto I'll Take My Stand: The South and the Agrarian Tradition, which bemoaned the tide of modernity that appeared to be sweeping away traditional Southern and American culture. Ransom at first defended the manifesto's assertion that the industrialization of modern society was a dehumanizing force, in various essays influenced by his Agrarian beliefs. In 1936, however, he expressed some doubts about the position, and in 1945 publicly renounced it. It is also curious that in 1937, Ransom moved his career from a Southern university very hospitable to the Southern tradition in letters and social philosophy, to a northern, albeit deeply rural, liberal arts college that was less so.
Ransom's abandonment of Agrarianism was foreshadowed by one of his most famous essays, "God Without Thunder: An Unorthodox Defense of Orthodoxy" (1930), a philosophically informed defense of the stern, "inscrutable" God of the Old Testament as opposed to the permissive Jesus, there equated with modern science. Ransom's "traditionalist" assertions in this essay are overshadowed by its critique and rejection of the (American) religious offerings of his day.
-
Modern American Poetry: John Crowe Ransom.
-
Would you like to comment?
Join Diigo for a free account, or sign in if you are already a member.