Editing Cleanth Brooks (section)

===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.