The Complete Poems contains every poem that John Crowe Ransom wrote, including his three books- Poems About God, Chills and Fever, and Two Gentlemen in Bonds- as well as the additional poems that appeared in the three editions of his Selected Poems. The volume also collects poems that were published only in newspapers and magazines, as well as a handful of poems that Ransom left in manuscript at the time of his death.

This variorum edition establishes the definitive text of each poem, collating Ransom's elaborate revisions, which he carried out throughout his lifetime. Detailed annotations identify sources, parse obscure allusions, and highlight the archaic language central to Ransom's poetic technique. Edited by Ashby Bland Crowder, this volume constitutes an authoritative scholarly edition of Ransom's poetry, providing an essential resource for the study of twentieth-century American literature.