Theodore Morrison; Poet and Novelist

Theodore Morrison, 87, poet and novelist who taught creative writing at Harvard University for more than four decades. Morrison, whose books included “The Portable Chaucer,” a modernization of the principal works of the Middle English poet, taught at Harvard from 1930 to 1973 and was director of the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference at Middlebury College from 1932 through 1955. He also wrote four novels and published four books of poetry. During World War II, he was a consultant for speech, American history and composition for special Army Air Corps programs. In Amherst, Mass., on Nov. 27.