Stephen Vincent Benet (1898-1943) was once the most popular writer of poetry and fiction in the United States, particularly from 1928 to his untimely death. When the Saturday Evening Post was the premier weekly in America, Benet was its premier writer. Benet was a viscerally emotive writer who wore his heart – and pen – on his sleeve. He achieved both critical esteem and popular acclaim. His 1937 classic, “The Devil and Daniel Webster”, may be the most well known short story in American literature, in which the great lawyer and orator defends a farmer, Jabez Stone, who had sold his soul to the devil. In 1928 his epic long poem of the American Civil War, John Brown's Body, was a bestseller and took the Pulitzer …
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Citation: Garrett Izzo, David. "Stephen Vincent Benet". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 17 February 2005 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=354, accessed 24 November 2024.]
