25 Facts About Witter Bynner

Harold Witter Bynner, known by the pen name Emanuel Morgan, was an American poet and translator.

Witter Bynner was known for his long residence in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and association with other literary figures there.

Witter Bynner attended Brookline High School and was editor of its literary magazine.

Witter Bynner entered Harvard University in 1898, where he was the first member of his class invited to join the student literary magazine, The Harvard Advocate, by its editor Wallace Stevens.

Witter Bynner was published in another of Harvard's literary journals, The Harvard Monthly.

Witter Bynner enjoyed theater, opera, and symphony performances in Boston, and he became involved in the suffrage movement.

Witter Bynner had an opportunity to meet and socialize with many New York writers and artists.

Witter Bynner next turned to independent writing and lecturing, living in Cornish, New Hampshire.

In New York City, Witter Bynner was a member of The Players club, the Harvard Club, and the MacDowell Club.

Witter Bynner traveled with Ficke and others to Japan, Korea, and China in 1917.

Witter Bynner was hired to teach Oral English to the Students' Army Training Corps as a form of conscientious objector alternative service.

Witter Bynner's students included several who became published poets of some note, such as Stanton A Coblentz, Hildegarde Flanner, Idella Purnell, and Genevieve Taggard.

Witter Bynner's teaching contract was not renewed, but his students continued to meet as a group and he occasionally joined them.

Witter Bynner returned to China, living there from June 1920 to April 1921 for intensive study of Chinese literature and culture.

Witter Bynner embarked on another lecture tour, reaching Santa Fe, New Mexico in February 1922.

Witter Bynner first returned to Berkeley, where he recruited his former student Walter Willard 'Spud' Johnson to join him as his secretary.

Witter Bynner produced related writings: three poems about Lawrence, and his memoir Journey with Genius, published in 1951.

Witter Bynner is said to have taken revenge on Bynner by hiring Johnson to be her own secretary.

Witter Bynner in turn wrote a play, Cake, satirizing her lifestyle.

Witter Bynner spent much of the 1940s and early 1950s in Chapala, until he began to lose his eyesight.

Witter Bynner returned to the US, received treatment, and traveled to Europe with Hunt.

Witter Bynner never recovered, and required constant care until he died on June 1,1968.

Hunt and Witter Bynner's ashes are buried beneath the carved stone weeping dog at the house where he lived on Atalaya Hill in Santa Fe, now the president's home at St John's College.

From 1921 to 1923, Witter Bynner had served as president of the Poetry Society of America.

Witter Bynner's home in Santa Fe is a bed and breakfast called the Inn of the Turquoise Bear.