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John Crowe Ransom

John Crowe Ransom Books

Critic

John Crowe Ransom was an American literary critic and poet, renowned for his contributions to Southern literature and culture. His work emphasized profound reflections on nature, humanity, and the universe, as well as respect for literary traditions.

Selected poems

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Fugitives: an anthology of verse

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The Complete Poems Of John Crowe Ransom

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Related Quotes

“A cry of Absence, Absence, in the heart,”

Author:John Crowe Ransom

“Tell this to ladies: how a hero man Assail a thick and scandalous giant Who casts true shadow in the sun, And die, but play no truant. This is more horrible: that the darling egg Of the chosen people hatch a creature Of noblest mind and powerful leg Who cannot fathom nor perform his nature.”

Goliath American Poetry King David

Book:The Complete Poems Of John Crowe Ransom

Source: The Complete Poems Of John Crowe Ransom

“And how can poetry stand up against its new conditions? Its position is perfectly precarious.”

Conditions Position Precarious Ransom

Author:John Crowe Ransom

“And yet what is Modernism? It is undefined.”

Modernism Undefined

Author:John Crowe Ransom

“But we moderns are impatient and destructive.”

Destructive Impatient

Author:John Crowe Ransom

“It is a miracle of harmony, of the adaptation of the free inner life to the outward necessity of things.”

Miracle Harmony Adaptation Inner Life

Author:John Crowe Ransom

“The arts generally have had to recognize Modernism - how should poetry escape?”

Should Art Modernism Ransom

Author:John Crowe Ransom

“Till now poets were privileged to insert a certain proportion of nonsense - very far in excess of one-half of one per cent - into their otherwise sober documents.”

Certain Half Poet Proportion Nonsense Excess Cents Documents Privileged Sober One Half Insert Ransom

Author:John Crowe Ransom

“Too much is demanded by the critic, attempted by the poet.”

Too Much Poet Critics Ransom

Author:John Crowe Ransom

“Two evils, monstrous either one apart, Possessed me, and were long and loath at going: A cry of Absence, Absence, in the heart, And in the wood the furious winter blowing.”

Heart Long Two Evil Cry Winter Woods Absence Possessed Monstrous Furious Two Evils

Author:John Crowe Ransom

“And if no Lethe flows beneath your casement, And when ten years have not brought full effacement, Philosophy was wrong, and you may meet.”

Ifs Years May Philosophy Ten Flow Lethe

Author:John Crowe Ransom

“God have mercy on the sinner Who must write with no dinner, No gravy and no grub, No pewter and no pub, No bellyand no bowels, Only consonants and vowels.”

Writing Mercy Dinner Sinner Pubs Gravy Bowels Vowels Consonants Pewter

Author:John Crowe Ransom

“And a wandering beauty is a blade out of its scabbard.You know how dangerous, gentlemen of threescore?May you know it yet ten more.”

Knows May Know How Dangerous Ten Wander Gentleman Blades

Book:Selected poems

Source: Selected poems

“I am a lady young in beauty waiting Until my truelove comes, and then we kiss.”

Young Waiting Beauty Kissing

Book:Selected poems

Source: Selected poems

“In all the good Greek of Plato I lack my roastbeef and potato. A better man was Aristotle, Pulling steady on the bottle.”

Men Literature Philosophical Greek Bottles Steady Pulling Plato Potatoes Better Man

Book:Selected poems

Source: Selected poems

“The image cannot be dispossessed of a primordial freshness, which idea can never claim. An idea is derivative and tamed. The imageis in the natural or wild state, and it has to be discovered there, not put there, obeying its own law and none of ours. We think we can lay hold of image and take it captive, but the docile captive is not the real image but only the idea, which is the image with its character beaten out of it.”

Thinking Ideas Real States Character Law Natural Claims Lays Beaten Captives Freshness Obeying Derivatives Tamed Docile

Author:John Crowe Ransom

“Great lovers lie in Hell, the stubborn ones Infatuate of the flesh upon the bones; Stuprate, they rend each other when they kiss, The pieces kiss again, no end to this.”

Ends Lying Sin Hell Pieces Lovers Kissing Bones Flesh Lust Stubborn Great Love Great Lovers

Book:Selected poems

Source: Selected poems

“Would you ascend to Heaven and bodiless dwell? Or take your bodies honorless to Hell? In Heaven you have heard no marriage is, No white flesh tinder to your lecheries”

Body Heaven Sin White Hell Heard Flesh Your Body Tinder Lechery

Book:Selected poems

Source: Selected poems

“Captain Carpenter rose up in his prime Put on his pistols and went riding out But had got wellnigh nowhere at that time Till he fell in with ladies in a rout.”

Women Rose Prime Riding Captains Carpenter Pistols

Book:Fugitives: an anthology of verse

Source: Fugitives: an anthology of verse

“Do not enforce the tired wolf Dragging his infected wound homeward To sit tonight with the warm children Naming the pretty kings of France.”

Children Kings Tired Warm Wounds France Tonight

Book:Selected poems

Source: Selected poems

“I would not knock old fellows in the dust But there lay Captain Carpenter on his back His weapons were the old heart in his bust And a blade shook between rotten teeth alack.”

Heart Weapons Fellows Lays Teeth Dust Captains Blades Rotten Carpenter

Book:Selected poems

Source: Selected poems

“For no art and no religion is possible until we make allowances, until we manage to keep quiet the enfant terrible of logic that plays havoc with the other faculties.”

Art Play Terrible Quiet Logic Manage Faculty Allowance Havoc

Author:John Crowe Ransom

“Now between the meanings of words and their sounds there is ordinarily no discoverable relation except one of accident; and it is therefore miraculous, to the mystic, when words which make sense can also make a uniform objective structure of accents and rhymes.”

Sound Relation Structure Accidents Objectives Make Sense Uniforms Accents Rhyme Miraculous Mystic Rhyming Meanings Of Words

Author:John Crowe Ransom

“Or he can work it out as a metrical and formal exercise, but he will be disappointed in its content. The New Year's prospect fairly chills his daunting breast.”

Years Perspective Exercise Breasts Working It Disappointed New Year Formal Chill

Author:John Crowe Ransom

“When critics are waiting to pounce upon poetic style on exactly the same grounds as if it were prose, the poets tremble.”

Ifs Waiting Style Poet Critics Prose Poetic Ransom

Author:John Crowe Ransom

“He can develop sense and style, in the manner of distinguished modern prose, in which event he may be sure that the result will not fall into any objective form.”

May Form Fall Results Modern Style Events Objectives Prose Distinguished Objectivity

Author:John Crowe Ransom

“It is out of fashion in these days to look backward rather than forward. About the only American given to it is some unreconstructed Southerner, who persists in his regard for a certain terrain, a certain history, and a certain inherited way of living.”

Way Looks Certain Given Fashion Regard These Days Persist Terrain Southerner

Author:John Crowe Ransom

About the Author

Born: April 30, 1888
Died: July 3, 1974
Known for: Critic
Quotes: 27

Related Topics

Ransom Heart May Poet Absence Art Blades Captains Carpenter Certain

Popular Topics

People Ifs Thinking Knows Men World Way Want Love Life Inspirational Needs Giving Feels Should Writing Trying Years Mind Firsts

Books & Sources

Selected poemsRelated source material

Fugitives: an anthology of verseRelated source material

The Complete Poems Of John Crowe RansomRelated source material

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