On January 10th, 1887, John Robinson Jeffers, most well known as simply Robinson Jeffers, was born outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His parents were somewhat of an odd fit. His father, Dr. William Hamilton Jeffers, was an extremely intelligent yet “reserved, reclusive person” who married a happy upbeat woman who was 23 years younger than himself (Coffin). Despite their age and personality differences, Dr. Jeffers and Annie Robinson Tuttle had a secure marriage. Dr. Jeffers’s widespread education resulted in a vast knowledge of Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Arabic, and the Old Testament. Dr. Jeffers was eager to pass on his knowledge to Robinson. So, when Robinson was only five years old, Dr. Jeffers began to teach him Greek (Academy of American Poets). Also starting at a young age, Robinson traveled throughout Europe. From age eleven to fifteen, Robinson attended several different European boarding schools: in Zurich, Leipzig, Geneva, Vevey, and Lausanne (Coffin). Though Dr. Jeffers was responsible for Robinson’s frequent transfers, his reasoning is unknown. At each school, Jeffers was seen by his peers as reclusive and pensive—much like his father. In 1903, when Jeffers was 16, he relocated yet another time with his family to Pasadena, California where he enrolled at Occidental College as a junior. Here, Jeffers succeeded immediately and immensely in courses such as biblical literature, Greek, and astronomy. Jeffer’s natural ambition to learn and his knowledge of numerous languages impressed everyone around him. As a result, Jeffers made life-long friends and took up hiking—a hobby that he would enjoy for the rest of his life (Brophy 2). Right after graduating from Occidental College with a BA in literature at age 18, Jeffers enrolled at the University of South California as a literature major (Brophy 2). During his first year at USC, Jeffers met his future wife, Una Call Kuster, ...
