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Stephen Vincent Benét Biography

Writer

Stephen Vincent Benét was an American poet, novelist and short story writer, the author of the famous story "The Devil and Daniel Webster" (1937). He won the 1929 Pulitzer Prize for "John's Brown Body," the epic Civil War poem that recounts John Brown's 1859 raid on Harper's Ferry, and his novels include The Beginning of Wisdom (1921), Young People's Pride (1922) and James Shore's Daughters (1934). Beginning in the 1930s Benét worked occasionally in Hollywood, but he was primarily a poet and short story writer; his last collection of poems, Western Star won him a second (and posthumous) Pulitzer in 1944.

Extra credit: His short story "The Sobbin Women" was the basis for the musical Seven Brides For Seven Brothers (1954)... His brother, William Rose Benét, was also a Pulitzer-winning poet.