Stephen Vincent Benét (; July 22, 1898 – March 13, 1943) was an American poet,

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest ...

writer, and novelist. He is best known for his book-length

narrative poem Narrative poetry is a form of poetry that tells a story, often using the voices of both a narrator and characters; the entire story is usually written in metered verse. Narrative poems do not need rhyme. The poems that make up this genre may be ...

of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and t ...

, '' John Brown's Body'' (1928), for which he received the

Pulitzer Prize for Poetry The Pulitzer Prize for Poetry is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes awarded annually for Letters, Drama, and Music. It was first presented in 1922, and is given for a distinguished volume of original verse by an American author, published ...

, and for the short stories "

The Devil and Daniel Webster "The Devil and Daniel Webster" (1936) is a short story by American writer Stephen Vincent Benét. He tells of a New Hampshire farmer who sells his soul to the devil and is later defended by Daniel Webster, a fictional version of the noted 19th-c ...

" (1936) and " By the Waters of Babylon" (1937). In 2009,

Library of America The Library of America (LOA) is a nonprofit publisher of classic American literature. Founded in 1979 with seed money from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Ford Foundation, the LOA has published over 300 volumes by authors ran ...

selected his story "The King of the Cats" (1929) for inclusion in its two-century retrospective of ''American Fantastic Tales'', edited by

Peter Straub Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a su ...

Life and career

Early life

Benét was born on July 22, 1898 in

Fountain Hill, Pennsylvania Fountain Hill is a borough in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population of Fountain Hill was 4,832 at the 2020 census, an increase over the figure of 4,597 tabulated in 2010. It is part of the Lehigh Valley metropolitan area, whic ...

in the

Lehigh Valley The Lehigh Valley (), known colloquially as The Valley, is a geographic region formed by the Lehigh River in Lehigh County and Northampton County in eastern Pennsylvania. It is a component valley of the Great Appalachian Valley bound to the no ...

region of eastern

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

to James Walker Benét, a colonel in the United States Army. His grandfather and namesake led the Army Ordnance Corps from 1874 to 1891 as a brigadier general and served in the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polici ...

. His paternal uncle Laurence Vincent Benét was an ensign in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

during the

Spanish–American War , partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence , image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg , image_size = 300px , caption = (clock ...

and later manufactured the French

Hotchkiss machine gun The Hotchkiss machine gun was any of a line of products developed and sold by Hotchkiss et Cie, (full name Société Anonyme des Anciens Etablissements Hotchkiss et Cie), established by United States gunsmith Benjamin B. Hotchkiss. Hotchkiss moved ...

. Around the age of ten, Benét was sent to the Hitchcock Military Academy. He graduated from Summerville Academy in

Augusta, Georgia Augusta ( ), officially Augusta–Richmond County, is a consolidated city-county on the central eastern border of the U.S. state of Georgia. The city lies across the Savannah River from South Carolina at the head of its navigable portion. Geor ...

and from

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the w ...

, where he was "the power behind the '' Yale Lit''", according to

Thornton Wilder Thornton Niven Wilder (April 17, 1897 – December 7, 1975) was an American playwright and novelist. He won three Pulitzer Prizes — for the novel '' The Bridge of San Luis Rey'' and for the plays ''Our Town'' and '' The Skin of Our Teeth'' — ...

, a fellow member of the Elizabethan Club. He also edited and contributed light verse to the campus humor magazine ''

The Yale Record ''The Yale Record'' is the campus humor magazine of Yale University. Founded in 1872, it became the oldest humor magazine in the world when ''Punch'' folded in 2002."History", The Yale Record, March 10, 2010. http://www.yalerecord.com/about/histo ...

''. His first book was published when he was aged 17 and he was awarded an M.A. in English upon submission of his third volume of poetry in lieu of a thesis. He was also a part-time contributor to ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and event (philosophy), events that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various me ...

'' magazine in its early years. In 1920-21, Benét went to France on a Yale traveling fellowship, where he met Rosemary Carr; the couple married in Chicago in November 1921. Carr was also a writer and poet, and they collaborated on some works. In 1926, he received a Guggenheim Fellowship award and while living in Paris, wrote ''John Brown's Body''.

Man of letters

Benét helped solidify the place of the Yale Series of Younger Poets Competition and

Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day, and became an official department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and operationally autonomous. , Yale Univers ...

during his decade-long judgeship of the competition. He published the first volumes of

James Agee James Rufus Agee ( ; November 27, 1909 – May 16, 1955) was an American novelist, journalist, poet, screenwriter and film critic. In the 1940s, writing for ''Time Magazine'', he was one of the most influential film critics in the United States. ...

Muriel Rukeyser Muriel Rukeyser (December 15, 1913 – February 12, 1980) was an American poet and political activist, best known for her poems about equality, feminism, social justice, and Judaism. Kenneth Rexroth said that she was the greatest poet of her "ex ...

Jeremy Ingalls Mildred Dodge Jeremy Ingalls (April 2, 1911 - March 16, 2000) was an American poet and scholar of Chinese literature. In 1943, she received a Guggenheim Fellowship to work on her major poem, ''The Thunder Saga of Tahi'', which was published i ...

, and

Margaret Walker Margaret Walker (Margaret Abigail Walker Alexander by marriage; July 7, 1915 – November 30, 1998) was an American poet and writer. She was part of the African-American literary movement in Chicago, known as the Chicago Black Renaissance. ...

. He was elected a Member of the

American Academy of Arts and Letters The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 300-member honor society whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, music, and art. Its fixed number membership is elected for lifetime appointments. Its headqu ...

in 1929, and Fellow of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...

in 1931. Benét won the O. Henry Award on three occasions, for his short stories ''An End to Dreams'' in 1932, ''

'' in 1937, and ''Freedom's a Hard-Bought Thing'' in 1940. His fantasy short story "

" inspired several unauthorized dramatizations by other writers after its initial publication which prompted Benet to adapt his own work for the stage. Benet approached composer Douglas Moore to create an opera of the work with Benet serving as librettist in 1937. '' The Devil and Daniel Webster: An Opera in One Act'' (New York: Farrar & Rinehart, 1939) premiered on

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

in 1939. That work was created from 1937 through 1939, and its libretto served as the basis for a 1938 play adaptation of the work by Benet (''The Devil and Daniel Webster: A Play in One Act'', New York: Dramatists Play Service, 1938). The play in turn was used as the source for a screenplay adaptation co-penned by Benet which was originally released as '' All That Money Can Buy'' (1941). Benét also wrote the sequel "Daniel Webster and the Sea Serpent", in which Daniel Webster encounters

Leviathan Leviathan (; he, לִוְיָתָן, ) is a sea serpent noted in theology and mythology. It is referenced in several books of the Hebrew Bible, including Psalms, the Book of Job, the Book of Isaiah, the Book of Amos, and, according to some ...

Death and legacy

Evergreen Cemetery, Stephen Vincent Benét

Benét died of a heart attack in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

on March 13, 1943 at age 44. He was buried in Evergreen Cemetery in

Stonington, Connecticut The town of Stonington is located in New London County, Connecticut in the state's southeastern corner. It includes the borough of Stonington, the villages of Pawcatuck, Lords Point, and Wequetequock, and the eastern halves of the villages of ...

, where he had owned the historic Amos Palmer House. On April 17, 1943, NBC broadcast a special tribute to his life and works which included a performance by

Helen Hayes Helen Hayes MacArthur ( Brown; October 10, 1900 – March 17, 1993) was an American actress whose career spanned 80 years. She eventually received the nickname "First Lady of American Theatre" and was the second person and first woman to have w ...

. He was awarded a posthumous

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made ...

in 1944 for ''Western Star'', an unfinished narrative poem on the settling of the United States. Benét adapted the Roman myth of

the rape of the Sabine Women The Rape of the Sabine Women ( ), also known as the Abduction of the Sabine Women or the Kidnapping of the Sabine Women, was an incident in Roman mythology in which the men of Rome committed a mass abduction of young women from the other citi ...

into the story "The Sobbin' Women". That story was adapted as the musical film '' Seven Brides for Seven Brothers'' (1954), then as a stage musical (1978) and then

TV series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed b ...

(1982). His play ''John Brown's Body'' was staged on Broadway in 1953 in a three-person dramatic reading featuring

Tyrone Power Tyrone Edmund Power III (May 5, 1914 – November 15, 1958) was an American actor. From the 1930s to the 1950s, Power appeared in dozens of films, often in swashbuckler roles or romantic leads. His better-known films include ''Jesse James (193 ...

, Judith Anderson, and

Raymond Massey Raymond Hart Massey (August 30, 1896 – July 29, 1983) was a Canadian actor, known for his commanding, stage-trained voice. For his lead role in '' Abe Lincoln in Illinois'' (1940), Massey was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor. Amo ...

, directed by

Charles Laughton Charles Laughton (1 July 1899 – 15 December 1962) was a British actor. He was trained in London at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and first appeared professionally on the stage in 1926. In 1927, he was cast in a play with his future ...

. The book was included in ''

Life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energy ...

'' magazine's list of the 100 outstanding books of 1924–44. Dee Brown's '' Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee'' takes its title from the final phrase of Benét's poem "American Names". The full quotation appears at the beginning of Brown's book: I shall not be there I shall rise and pass Bury my heart at Wounded Knee.

Selected works

* ''Five Men and Pompey, a series of dramatic portraits'', Poetry, 1915 * ''The Drug-Shop, or, Endymion in Edmonstoun'' (Yale University Prize Poem), 1917 * ''Young Adventure: A book of Poems'', 1918 * ''Heavens and Earth'', 1920 * ''The Beginnings of Wisdom: A Novel'', 1921 * ''Young People's Pride: A Novel'', 1922 * ''Jean Huguenot: A Novel'', 1923 * ''The Ballad of William Sycamore: A Poem'', 1923 * ''King David: A two-hundred-line ballad in six parts'', 1923 * ''Nerves'', 1924 (A play, with John Farrar) * ''That Awful Mrs. Eaton'', 1924 (A play, with John Farrar) * ''Tiger Joy: A Book of Poems'', 1925 * ''The Mountain Whippoorwill: How Hill-Billy Jim Won the Great Fiddler's Prize: A Poem.'', 1925 * '' The Bat'', 1926 (ghostwritten novelization of the play by

Mary Roberts Rinehart Mary Roberts Rinehart (August 12, 1876September 22, 1958) was an American writer, often called the American Agatha Christie.Keating, H.R.F., ''The Bedside Companion to Crime''. New York: Mysterious Press, 1989, p. 170. Rinehart published her fir ...

and

Avery Hopwood James Avery Hopwood (May 28, 1882 – July 1, 1928) was an American playwright of the Jazz Age. He had four plays running simultaneously on Broadway in 1920. Early life Hopwood was born to James and Jule Pendergast Hopwood on May 28, 1882 ...

) * ''Spanish Bayonet'', 1926 * '' John Brown's Body'', 1928 * ''The Barefoot Saint: A Short Story'', 1929 * ''The Litter of Rose Leaves: A Short Story'', 1930 * ''

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation throu ...

'', 1930 (screenplay with Gerrit Lloyd) * ''Ballads and Poems'', 1915–1930, 1931 * ''A Book of Americans'', 1933 (with Rosemary Carr Benét, his wife) * ''James Shore's Daughter: A Novel'', 1934 * ''The Burning City'', 1936 (includes 'Litany for Dictatorships') * ''The Magic of Poetry and the Poet's Art'', 1936 * ''

'', 1936 * '' By the Waters of Babylon'', 1937 * ''The Headless Horseman: one-act play'', 1937 * ''Thirteen O'Clock'', 1937 * ''We Aren't Superstitious'', 1937 (Essay on the Salem Witch Trials) * ''Johnny Pye and the Fool Killer: A Short Story'', 1938 * ''Tales Before Midnight: Collection of Short Stories'', 1939 * ''The Ballad of the Duke's Mercy'', 1939 * ''

'', 1939 (opera libretto with Douglas Moore) * ''A Song of Three Soldiers'', 1940 * ''Elementals'', 1940–41 (broadcast) * ''Freedom's Hard-Bought Thing'', 1941 (broadcast) * ''Listen to the People'', 1941 * ''A Summons to the Free'', 1941 * ''William Riley and the Fates'', 1941 * ''

Cheers for Miss Bishop ''Cheers for Miss Bishop'' is a 1941 American drama film based on the novel ''Miss Bishop'' by Bess Streeter Aldrich. It was directed by Tay Garnett and stars Martha Scott in the title role. The other cast members include William Gargan, Edmund ...

'', 1941 (screenplay with Adelaide Heilbron, Sheridan Gibney) * ''

'', 1941 (screenplay with

Dan Totheroh Webster Daniel Totheroh (July 22, 1894 – December 3, 1976) was an American author, playwright, and screenwriter. Biography Dan Totheroh was born in Oakland, California and raised largely in Marin County, graduating from San Rafael High Scho ...

) * ''Selected Works'', 1942 (2 vols.) * ''Short Stories'', 1942 * ''Nightmare at Noon: Short Poem'', 1942 (in The Treasury Star Parade, ed. by William A. Bacher) * '' A Child is Born'', 1942 (broadcast) * ''They Burned the Books'', 1942 * ''They Burned the Books'', 1942 (broadcast) These works were published

posthumously Posthumous may refer to: * Posthumous award - an award, prize or medal granted after the recipient's death * Posthumous publication Posthumous publication refers to material that is published after the author's death. This can be because the auth ...

: * ''Western Star'', 1943 (unfinished) * ''Twenty Five Short Stories'', 1943 * ''America'', 1944 * ''O'Halloran's Luck and Other Short Stories'', 1944 * ''We Stand United'', 1945 (radio scripts) * ''The Bishop's Beggar'', 1946 * ''The Last Circle'', 1946 * ''Selected Stories'', 1947 * ''From the Earth to the Moon'', 1958

References

Sources

* *

External links

* *
Works by Stephen Vincent Benét
at Project Gutenberg Australia
"We Aren't Superstitious"
an essay by Stephen Vincent Benét * * * Works by Stephen Vincent Benét (public domain in Canada) * * * Stephen Vincent Benét and Rosemary Benét Papers at Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library {{DEFAULTSORT:Benet, Stephen Vincent 1898 births 1943 deaths 20th-century American journalists 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American short story writers American fantasy writers American male journalists American male novelists American male short story writers American opera librettists 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American poets American people of Catalan descent Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Poets from Pennsylvania O. Henry Award winners Pulitzer Prize for Poetry winners The Yale Record alumni Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters