American poet, editor, lecturer, and translator Witter Bynner became widely known through a literary hoax, a parody of free verse titled Spectra, which he created with Arthur Ficke. Bynner was literary editor and assistant editor for McClure's Magazine from 1902-1906 and later was a lecturer on poetry throughout the United States. His work, The Jade Mountain, was the first complete volume of Chinese poetry to be translated by an American.
Witter Bynner was born August 10, 1881, in Brooklyn, New York, and died in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on June 1, 1968.
"Witter Bynner." Contemporary Authors Online (reproduced in Biography Resource Center). http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC (accessed July 2010).
Biographical note about Helen Bramble derived from the letter.
Helen Bramble was an editor at The Forum magazine.
"Witter Bynner." Contemporary Authors Online (reproduced in Biography Resource Center). http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC (accessed July 2010).
Biographical note about Helen Bramble derived from the letter.
Witter Bynner wrote this letter to Helen Bramble, editor of The Forum, for publication in the periodical. The three-page letter was written in support of Arthur Ficke's lengthy poem, "The Return of Christ," which was published in The Forum in December 1928. In this letter Bynner defended the content and implications of the Ficke's poem. He expressed his own misgivings about "Christianization of China" based on his observations during the time he lived in China.