Editing Allen Tate (section)

===College and the Fugitives===
Tate entered [[Vanderbilt University]] in 1918. He was the first undergraduate to be invited to join a group of men who met regularly to read and discuss their poetry: they included [[John Crowe Ransom]] and [[Donald Davidson (poet)|Donald Davidson]] on the faculty; James M. Frank, a prominent Nashville businessman who hosted the meetings; and [[Sidney Mttron Hirsch]], a [[Mysticism|mystic]] and playwright, who presided.<ref name="tnsn1923pix">{{cite news |title=Fugitives Add to Literary Honors Of Tennessee |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/178341492 |access-date=2 September 2019 |work=Special Feature Section |issue=17 |date=May 27, 1923|volume=15 }}</ref> Tate graduated Vanderbilt in 1922 with a [[B.A.]] ''[[magna cum laude]]'' and [[Phi Beta Kappa]].

In 1922, the group began publishing a poetry magazine named ''The Fugitive'', so the group was known as the [[Fugitives (poets)|Fugitives]]. Tate took along a younger friend to some meetings, sophomore [[Robert Penn Warren]], who was invited to become a member in 1923.<ref>{{cite book|first=Louise|last=Cowan|author-link=Louise Cowan|title=The Fugitive Group: A Literary History|url=https://archive.org/details/fugitivegroup031306mbp|publisher=[[Louisiana State University Press]]|year=1959}}</ref> The aim of the group, according to the critic J. A. Bryant, was "to demonstrate that a group of southerners could produce important work in the medium [of poetry], devoid of sentimentality and carefully crafted," and they wrote in the [[Formalist theory of art|formalist]] tradition that valued the skillful use of [[Metre (poetry)|meter]] and rhyme.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.poets.org/|title=Academy of American Poets|first=Academy of American|last=Poets|website=Poets.org|access-date=April 25, 2019}}</ref>

When Robert Penn Warren left [[Rhodes College|Southwestern College]] to accept a position at [[Louisiana State University]], he recommended Tate to replace him. Tate accepted the position, and spent 1934 through 1936 there as lecturer in English.