Editing Cleanth Brooks (section)

==Life and career==

===Early life===
On October 16, 1906, in [[Murray, Kentucky]], Brooks was born to a [[Methodist]] minister, the [[Reverend]] Cleanth Brooks Sr., and Bessie Lee Witherspoon Brooks (Leitch 2001). He was one of three children: Cleanth and William, natural born sons, and Murray Brooks, actually born Hewitt Witherspoon, whom Bessie Lee Witherspoon kidnapped from her brother Forrest Bedford Witherspoon as a young baby after the natural mother had died. She later was able to change his name to Murray Brooks and continued to raise him as her own, causing quite a rift in her own family and alienating herself from Cleanth and William. Cleanth mentioned on more than one occasion that she so doted on Murray (Hewitt) that she no longer had a relationship with Cleanth and William. Attending McTyeire School, a private academy, he received a classical education and went on to study at [[Vanderbilt University]] in [[Nashville, Tennessee]], where he received his [[Bachelor of Arts|B.A.]] ''[[summa cum laude]]'' in 1928 (Leitch 2001). In 1928, Brooks received his [[Master of Arts|M.A.]] from [[Tulane University]] and went on to study at [[Exeter College, Oxford]], as a [[Rhodes Scholar]]. He received his B.A. (first class) in 1931 and his [[Bachelor of Letters|B.Litt.]] the following year. Brooks then returned to the United States and from 1932 to 1947 was a professor of English at [[Louisiana State University]] in [[Baton Rouge]] (Singh 1991). In 1934, he married Edith Amy Blanchord.

===Vanderbilt===
During his studies at Vanderbilt, he met literary critics and future collaborators [[Robert Penn Warren]], [[John Crowe Ransom]], [[Andrew Nelson Lytle|Andrew Lytle]], and [[Donald Davidson (poet)|Donald Davidson]] (Singh 1991). Studying with Ransom and Warren, Brooks became involved in two significant literary movements: the [[Southern Agrarians]] and the [[Fugitives (poets)|Fugitives]] (Singh 1991). Brooks admitted to reading the Southern Agrarian [[manifesto]], ''I'll Take My Stand'' (1930) "over and over" (qtd. in Leitch 2001). While he never argued for the movement's conservative Southern traditions, he "learned a great deal" (qtd. in Leitch 2001) and found the Agrarian position valuable and "unobjectionable" (qtd. in Leitch 2001): "They asked that we consider what the good life is or ought to be" (qtd. in Leitch 2001).

The Fugitive Movement similarly influenced Brooks' approach to criticism. The Fugitives, a group of Southern poets consisting of such influential writers as [[John Crowe Ransom]], [[Allen Tate]], Donald Davidson, and [[Robert Penn Warren]], met Saturday evenings to read and discuss poetry written by members of the group (Singh 1991). The discussion was based on intensive readings and included considerations of a poem's form, structure, meter, rhyme scheme, and imagery (Singh 1991). This close reading formed the foundation on which the New Critical movement was based and helped shape Brooks' approach to criticism (Singh 1991).

===Academic life and work===
While attending the [[Oxford University|University of Oxford]], Brooks continued his friendship with fellow Vanderbilt graduate and Rhodes Scholar, Robert Penn Warren (Leitch 2001). In 1934, Warren joined the English department at Louisiana State, leading Brooks and Warren to collaborate on many works of criticism and [[pedagogy]]. In 1935, Brooks and Warren founded ''The Southern Review''. Until 1942, they co-edited the journal, publishing works by many influential authors, including [[Eudora Welty]], [[Kenneth Burke]], and [[Ford Madox Ford]]. The journal was known for its criticism and creative writing, marking it as one of the leading journals of the time (Leitch 2001).

In addition, Brooks's and Warren's collaboration led to innovations in the teaching of poetry and literature. At [[Louisiana State University]], prompted by their students' inability to interpret poetry, the two put together a booklet that modeled close reading through examples (Leitch 2001). The booklet was a success and laid the foundation for a number of best-selling textbooks: ''An Approach to Literature'' (1936), ''[[Understanding Poetry]]'' (1938), ''Understanding Fiction'' (1943), ''Modern Rhetoric'' (1949), and, in collaboration with Robert Heilman, ''Understanding Drama'' (1945). Brooks' two most influential works also came out of the success of the booklet: ''Modern Poetry and the Tradition'' (1939) and ''[[The Well Wrought Urn: Studies in the Structure of Poetry]]'' (1947) (Leitch 2001).

From 1941 to 1975, Brooks held many academic positions and received a number of distinguished fellowships and honorary doctorates. In 1941, he worked as a visiting professor at the [[University of Texas, Austin]]. From 1947 to 1975, he was an English professor at [[Yale University]], where he held the position of Gray Professor of Rhetoric and Gray Professor of Rhetoric Emeritus from 1960 until his retirement, except 1964 to 1966 (Singh 1991). His [[tenure]] at Yale was marked by ongoing research into Southern literature, which resulted in the publication of Brooks' studies of William Faulkner's [[Yoknapatawpha County]] (1963, 1978) (Leitch 2001).<ref>A lifelong student of Faulkner and an expert on his texts, Brooks met Faulkner once. In a conversation lasting several hours, Brooks and Faulkner spent most of their time discussing dogs and [[coon hunting|raccoon hunting]].</ref> At Yale, he accepted honorary membership in [[Manuscript Society]]. In 1948, he was a fellow of the Kenyon School of English. From 1951 to 1953, he was a fellow of the [[Library of Congress]] in [[Washington, D.C.]], and was a visiting professor at the [[University of California, Los Angeles]]. During this time, he received the [[Guggenheim Fellowship]] and held it again in 1960. From 1963 to 1972, he was awarded honorary doctorates of literature from [[Upsala College]], the [[University of Kentucky]], the [[University of Exeter]], [[Washington and Lee University]], [[Saint Louis University]], [[Tulane University]], and [[Centenary College of New Jersey|Centenary College NJ]] and [[Oglethorpe University]]<ref>{{cite web|title=Honorary Degrees Awarded by Oglethorpe University |publisher=Oglethorpe University |url=http://www.oglethorpe.edu/about_us/history/honorary_degrees.asp |access-date=2015-03-13 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150319104000/http://www.oglethorpe.edu/about_us/history/honorary_degrees.asp |archive-date=2015-03-19 }}</ref> (Singh 1991).

Brooks' other positions included working as a cultural [[attaché]] for the American [[embassy]] in [[London]] from 1964 to 1966. Further, he held memberships in the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]], the [[National Institute of Arts and Letters]], and the [[American Philosophical Society]] (Singh 1991).

The [[National Endowment for the Humanities]] selected Brooks for the 1985 [[Jefferson Lecture]], the U.S. federal government's highest honor for achievement in the [[humanities]].<ref name="jefflect">[http://www.neh.gov/whoweare/jefflect.html Jefferson Lecturers] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111020121101/http://www.neh.gov///whoweare/jefflect.html |date=2011-10-20 }} at NEH Website (retrieved January 22, 2009).</ref>  He delivered the lecture both in Washington and at Tulane University in [[New Orleans]],<ref>[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F00E5D71438F936A35751C1A962948260 "Cleanth Brooks Named a Jefferson Lecturer,"] ''[[The New York Times]]'', December 5, 1984.</ref><ref>[http://www.neh.gov/whoweare/timeline.html Timeline] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090117131058/http://www.neh.gov///whoweare/timeline.html |date=2009-01-17 }} at NEH website.</ref> and it was subsequently included as "Literature in a Technological Age" in a collection of his essays.<ref>Cleanth Brooks, "Literature in a Technological Age" in ''Community, Religion, and Literature: Essays'' (University of Missouri Press, 1995), {{ISBN|0-8262-0993-9}}, {{ISBN|978-0-8262-0993-1}}, pp.259–274.</ref>