author
Witter Bynner
1881–1968
A poet, translator, and literary prankster, he moved easily between elegant lyric verse and playful experiments that poked fun at poetry fashions. His long years in Santa Fe also made him a memorable part of the city’s artistic life.
2 Audiobooks
The New World
by Witter Bynner
Spectra: A Book of Poetic Experiments
by Arthur Davison Ficke, Witter Bynner
About the author
Born in Brooklyn in 1881 and raised in Massachusetts, Witter Bynner studied at Harvard and went on to work as a journalist and editor before devoting himself more fully to literature. He published numerous poetry collections over a long career and also wrote under the pen name Emanuel Morgan.
Bynner is remembered not only for his own poems but also for his translations, especially of Chinese poetry and philosophy. Sources also consistently note his association with the literary hoax Spectra, a witty parody of contemporary poetic trends created with Arthur Davison Ficke.
He spent much of his later life in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he became closely connected with the region’s artistic community. He died in 1968, leaving behind a body of work that ranges from lyrical poetry to translation and literary satire.