Editing Cleanth Brooks (section)

===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).