The key to John Crowe Ransom's criticism may lie in his creation and use of a persona who speaks in a modest yet intelligent, ingratiating yet committed manner. The issue of the persona is an important one for Ransom, one that he deals with frequently in his criticism, and his own best poetry shows able use of the device. In terms of its function in poetry, Ransom regards the persona as necessary for the poet's anonymity…. Although Ransom maintains a distinction between poetry and prose … in his critical writings, his own prose does not fall so purely into the realm of scientific discourse that Ransom usually means by "prose." Indeed, he makes skillful use of a "fictitious personality," or persona, as a rhetorical strategy primarily to set the tone in his critical essays. (p. 87)

Rhetorically, a persona functions to encourage the reader to assume or become convinced of...