WRITER

Cleanth Brooks

1906 - 1994

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Cleanth Brooks ( KLEE-anth; October 16, 1906 – May 10, 1994) 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" (Leitch 2001) and codifying the principles of close reading. Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in 18 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 17 in 2024). Cleanth Brooks is the 7,088th most popular writer (down from 7,064th in 2024), the 15,962nd most popular biography from United States (up from 16,166th in 2019) and the 1,117th most popular American Writer.

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Among WRITERS

Among writers, Cleanth Brooks ranks 7,088 out of 7,302. Before him are Eva García Sáenz de Urturi, Ruta Sepetys, Kateryna Kalytko, Nicolas Mathieu, Yiyun Li, and Joseph Finder. After him are Peter Hedges, Bharati Mukherjee, François Bégaudeau, Dennis Potter, Lotta Lotass, and Maria Stepanova.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1906, Cleanth Brooks ranks 444. Before him are Bea Benaderet, Julio Rosales, Gale Gordon, Michael O'Shea, Dave Trottier, and Barbara Jo Allen. After him are Roger Livesey, and Dorothy Tree. Among people deceased in 1994, Cleanth Brooks ranks 369. Before him are Hal Smith, Heather Sears, Dixy Lee Ray, Eric Linden, Dennis Morgan, and Vladimír Podzimek. After him are Dennis Potter, Raich Carter, Sašo Mirjanič, Han Xu, Joachim Halupczok, and Jack Hargreaves.

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In United States

Among people born in United States, Cleanth Brooks ranks 15,969 out of 20,380. Before him are Sam Cassell (1969), Reggie Lewis (1965), Peggie Castle (1927), Carmen Hart (1984), Ben Shenkman (1968), and Joseph Finder (1958). After him are Maika Monroe (1993), Alexandra Shipp (1991), Joni James (1930), Toro y Moi (1986), Evan Spiegel (1990), and Mehcad Brooks (1980).

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Among WRITERS In United States

Among writers born in United States, Cleanth Brooks ranks 1,117. Before him are David Grann (1967), Joaquin Miller (1837), Bryan Fuller (1969), Ishmael Reed (1938), Ruta Sepetys (1967), and Joseph Finder (1958). After him are Peter Hedges (1962), James Gould Cozzens (1903), Andy Rooney (1919), Ruth Ozeki (1956), Laura Lippman (1959), and Ann Patchett (1963).

American born Writers

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