Who is Witter Bynner

Harold Witter Bynner, also known by the pen name Emanuel Morgan, (August 10, 1881 – June 1, 1968) was an American poet and translator. He was known for his long residence in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and association with other literary figures there.

Early life

Bynner was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Thomas Edgarton Bynner and the former Annie Louise Brewer. His domineering mother separated from his alcoholic father in December 1888 and moved with her two sons to Connecticut. The father died in 1891, and in 1892 the family moved to Brookline, Massachusetts. Bynner attended Brookline High School and was editor of its literary magazine. He entered Harvard University in 1898, where he was the first member of his class invited to join the student literary magaz...
Read Full Biography

---

Witter Bynner Poems

• A Farmer Remembers Lincoln
  “Lincoln?-
  Well, I was in the old Second Maine,
  The first regiment in Washington from the Pine Tree State.
  Of course I didn't get the butt of the clip;...
• To Any One
  Whether the time be slow or fast,
  Enemies, hand in hand,
  Must come together at the last
  And understand....
• The New Life
  Perhaps they laughed at Dante in his youth,
  Told him that truth
  Had unappealably been said
  In the great masterpieces of the dead:-...
• The Mystic
  By seven vineyards on one hill
  We walked. The native wine
  In clusters grew beside us two,
  For your lips and for mine,...
• The Fields
  Though wisdom underfoot
  Dies in the bloody fields,
  Slowly the endless root
  Gathers again and yields....

Read All Poems

---

Witter Bynner Quotes

Read All Quotes

---

Comments about Witter Bynner

• Trodgneiss: mention in the article, too, of witter bynner who had some prominence at the time in the emerging field of sinology. came across a three volume set of his works and translations at a book shop the other day. they were a tad pricey but i might thumb through them next time i visit.
• Poemsnature70: at the touch of you "at the touch of you, as if you were an archer with your swift hand at the bow, the arrows of delight shot through my body. you were spring, and i the edge of a cliff, and a shining waterfall rushed over me." witter bynner
• Nmhumanitiesbot: route 66 got routed through albuquerque instead of santa fe as retaliation against witter bynner and spud johnson
• Armanwalker: countee cullen after high school, attended new york university. in 1923, cullen won 2nd prize in the witter bynner national competitions for undergraduate poetry, sponsored by the poetry society of america, for his book of poems titled "the ballad of the brown girl".
• Chicken_or_egg3: (3)no sympathy, no sense just a wall street willingness and moral impotence is what our estimables choose as proper for the young no flesh and bone, no heart and soul but dishwater and dung. --witter bynner

Read All Comments