John Crowe Ransom

thumb|God have mercy on the sinner Who must write with no dinner, No gravy and no grub, No pewter and no pub, No belly and no bowels, Only consonants and vowels. John Crowe Ransom (April 30, 1888 – July 3, 1974) was a southern American poet, essayist and academic. He was prominent among the Fugitives, the Southern Agrarians and the American exponents of the New Criticism. Quotes thumb|Twirling your blue skirts, travelling the sward Under the towers of your seminary, Go listen to your teachers old and contrary Without believing a word... Practice your beauty, blue girls, before it fail; And I will cry with my loud lips, and publish Beauty which all our power shall never establish, It is so frail. Twirling your blue skirts crossing the swardUnder the towers of your seminaryGo listen to your teachers, old and contraryWithout believing a word.Tie the white filets then about your hairAnd think no more of what will come to pass Than bluebirds that go flying in the airOr chattering on the grass.Practice your beauty, blue girls, ere it fail,And I with my loud lips will publishBeauty that all our powers cannot establishIt is so frail. For I could tell you a story which is true;I know a lady with a terrible tongue,Blear eyes fallen from blue,All her perfections tarnished —Yet it is not longSince she was lovelier than any of you. "Blue Girls", line 13, from Two Gentlemen in Bonds (1927) And weeping fast as she had breathJanet implored us, "Wake her from her sleep!"And would not be instructed in how deepWas the forgetful kingdom of death. "Janet Waking", line 25, from Two Gentlemen in Bonds (1927) God have mercy on the sinner Who must write with no dinner, No gravy and no grub, No pewter and no pub, No belly and no bowels, Only consonants and vowels. "A Survey of Literature", last lines, from The Lyric South (1928) Chills and Fever (1924) 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. "Judith of Bethulia", line 4 Here lies a lady of beauty and high degree.Of chills and fever she died, of fever and chills,The delight of her husband, her aunts, an infant of three,And of medicos marveling sweetly on her ills. "Here Lies a Lady", stanza 1 Sweet ladies, long may ye bloom, and toughly I hope ye may thole, But was she not lucky? In flowers and lace and mourning,In love and great honour we bade God rest her soulAfter six little spaces of chill, and six of burning. "Here Lies a Lady", stanza 4 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. "Winter Remembered", line 1 External links Category:Poets from the United States Category:Essayists from the United States Category:Academics from the United States Category:Journalists from the United States Category:1888 births Category:1974 deaths Category:Literary critics Category:People from Tennessee Category:Formalist poets