Benét, << beh NAY, >> Stephen Vincent (1898-1943), was an American poet and fiction writer. Benét’s interest in American history and folklore, in addition to his interest in the ballad form, influenced his major work, John Brown’s Body (1928). Benét received the 1929 Pulitzer Prize for poetry for this epic poem.
In John Brown’s Body, Benét tried to give a complete picture of the American Civil War (1861-1865). He dramatized battlefield scenes and portrayed the political events that led to the war. Early in the poem, the reader is taken back to the beginnings of the slave trade in the 1600’s in America. The war itself is seen through the eyes of several characters, including a Southern belle, a runaway slave, an abolitionist from New England, and a Pennsylvania farmer who takes part in the Battle of Gettysburg.
Benét won the 1944 Pulitzer Prize for poetry for Western Star (1943), which describes the settling of the Plymouth and Jamestown colonies. The poem was part of an unfinished epic about the settling of America. Benét also wrote novels and short stories. His story “The Devil and Daniel Webster” (1937) is a fantasy that combines a folktale with New England history.
Benét was born in Bethlehem, Pennylvania, on July 22, 1898. He died on March 13, 1943.
