The Complete Poems

The Complete Poems contains every poem that John Crowe Ransom wrote, including his three books―Poems About God, Chills and Fever, and Two Gentlemen in Bonds―as well as the additional poems that appeared in the three editions of his Selected Poems. The volume also collects poems that were published only in newspapers and magazines, as well as a handful of poems that Ransom left in manuscript at the time of his death.

This variorum edition establishes the definitive text of each poem, collating Ransom’s elaborate revisions, which he carried out throughout his lifetime. Detailed annotations identify sources, parse obscure allusions, and highlight the archaic language central to Ransom’s poetic technique. Edited by Ashby Bland Crowder, this volume constitutes an authoritative scholarly edition of Ransom’s poetry, providing an essential resource for the study of twentieth-century American literature.

John Crowe Ransom (1888–1974) taught at Vanderbilt University and Kenyon College, where he founded the Kenyon Review. The author of many books of poetry and essays, Ransom won the National Book Award for his Selected Poems in 1964.

Ashby Bland Crowder (1941–2019) was the author or editor of several books, including Wakeful Anguish: A Literary Biography of William Humphrey and two volumes of The Complete Works of Robert Browning.

Robb Forman Dew, the granddaughter of John Crowe Ransom, is the author of several novels, including Dale Loves Sophie to Death, which won a National Book Award, and Being Polite to Hitler.