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Portrait of Cleanth Brooks

Cleanth Brooks

(1906–1994) Literary Critic

6 quotes in 27 categories

Cleanth Brooks was a literary critic, best known for Understanding poetry.

Quick Facts About Cleanth Brooks

Born
October 16, 1906
Died
May 10, 1994
Profession
Literary Critic
Notable works
Understanding poetry

About Cleanth Brooks

Cleanth Brooks was an American literary critic and professor. He is best known for his contributions to New Criticism in the mid-20th century and for revolutionizing the teaching of poetry in American higher education. His best-known works, The Well Wrought Urn: Studies in the Structure of Poetry (1947) and Modern Poetry and the Tradition (1939), argue for the centrality of ambiguity and paradox as a way of understanding poetry. With his writing, Brooks helped to formulate formalist criticism, emphasizing "the interior life of a poem" and codifying the principles of close reading.

Biography source: Wikipedia

Quotes by Cleanth Brooks