Born in Tennessee, Ransom graduated from Vanderbilt University and studied at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. He taught at Vanderbilt University, where he began leading meetings of the “Fugitives,” a group of writers opposed to industrialism and devoted to classicism and agrarian values.

Later, Ransom taught at Kenyon College and founded The Kenyon Review. He only published three volumes of poetry himself, but spent the majority of his career as a critic. His poetry is spare and formal, characterized by ironic twists.

–Christie Finn Source: Academy of American Poets website