John Crowe Ransom was an American educator, scholar, literary critic, poet, essayist and editor. He is considered to be a founder of the New Criticism school of literary criticism. As a faculty member at Kenyon College, he was the first editor of the widely regarded Kenyon Review. Highly respected as a teacher and mentor to a generation of accomplished students, he also was a prize-winning poet and essayist. He was nominated for the 1973 Nobel Prize in Literature.
John Crowe Ransom at Kenyon College in 1941. Photo by Robie Macauley.
John Crowe Ransom with Robie Macauley (left) at the Kenyon Review in 1959. Photo by Thomas Greenslade.
Kenyon College is a private liberal arts college in Gambier, Ohio, United States. It was founded in 1824 by Episcopal Bishop Philander Chase. It is the oldest private institution of higher education in the state of Ohio and enrolls approximately 1,800 undergraduate students. Students choose from over 50 majors, minors, and concentrations, including self-designed majors.
Philander Chase (1775–1852) was the founder and first president of Bexley Hall and Kenyon College, and later became Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church
Aerial view of Kenyon's campus
"Middle Path" runs two-thirds of a mile through the campus
Kenyon's First Seal