Bénet, Laura.

Laura Benét was born at Fort Hamilton, New York, on June 1, 1884. She was the daughter of Colonel James Walker and Frances Neill Rose Benét. She graduated from the Emma Willard School, Troy, New York; received a B.A. degree from Vassar College in 1907 and a Litt. D. degree from Moravian College in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. She worked as a settlement worker at the Spring Street Settlement in New York City, 1915-17; placement worker at the Children's Aid Society, New York City, 1917; sanitary inspector, American Red Cross, Augusta, Georgia, 1917-19; worker at St. Bartholomew's House, 1924-25; secretary and assistant book page editor, New York Evening Post, 1927-28; editorial department at the New York Sun, 1928-29; book review editor's assistant and book review substitute, the New York Times, summer of 1930; and a freelance writer from 1930 until her death. She received a medal as an honor poet, National Poetry Center, 1936. Her poems were recorded at the Library of Congress in 1958. She was a Democrat and an Episcopalian. She was the author of: Fairy Bread (poems), 1921; Noah's Dove (poems), 1929; Goods and Chattels (fiction), 1930; A Basket For A Fair (poems), 1934; The Boy Shelley (biography), 1937; The Hidden Valley (fiction),1938; Enchanting Jenny Lind (biography), 1939; Roxana Ramphant (fiction), 1940; Young Edgar Allen Poe (biography), 1941; Come Slowly, Eden: A Novel About Emily Dickinson, 1942; Caleb's Luck (for children), 1942; Washington Irving, Explorer of American Legend, 1944; Is Morning Sure (poems), 1947; Thackeray of the Great Heart and Humorous Pen (biography), 1947; Barnum's First Circus and Other Stories (for children), 1949; Famous American Poets, 1950; Coleridge, Poet of Wild Enchantment, 1952; Stanley, Invincible Explorer (biography), 1955; Famous American Humourists, 1959; In Love With Time (poems), 1959; Horseshoe Nails, 1965; Famous Poets for Young People, 1964; Famous English and American Essayists, 1966; Famous Storytellers, 1968; Famous New England Poets, 1970; Introductions To Classics, Verse to Periodicals. She was a member of the Poetry Society Association, Women Poets Craftsmen P.E.N. Club and Brush Club (honorary). She lived in New York City and died on February 17, 1979. She was buried with her parents in Section 6 of Arlington National Cemetery. -- Arlington National Cemetery website. (http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/lbenet.htm) Retrieved 2/16/2009.

Steven Vincent Benét was an American poet, novelist, and writer of short stories, best known for "John Brown's Body", a long narrative poem on the American Civil War. Born into a military family with literary inclinations, Benét was reared on army posts. His father read poetry aloud to Stephen, an older brother, William Rose, and a sister, Laura, all of whom became writers. Stephen published his first book at age 17. Civilian service during World War I interrupted his education at Yale University. He received his M.A. degree after the war, submitting his third volume of poems instead of a thesis. After publishing the much admired "Ballad of William Sycamore 1790-1880" (1923), three novels, and a number of short stories, he went to France, where he wrote "John Brown's Body" (1928), his most widely read work. Dramatized by Charles Laughton in 1953, it was performed across the United States. "A Book of Americans" (1933), poems written with his wife, the former Rosemary Carr, brought many historical characters to life for American schoolchildren. Benét's preoccupation with historical themes was also the basis for "Western Star", an ambitious epic verse narrative on American history that Benét first planned in 1934 to consist of as many as five books but was left uncompleted at the time of his death. Book I, complete in itself and finished in 1942, was published posthumously. In all, Benét published more than 17 volumes of prose and verse. His best known short story, "The Devil and Daniel Webster" (1937), a humorous treatment of a theme from folklore, was the basis for a play by Archibald MacLeish, an opera by Douglas Moore, and two motion pictures (1941, 2001). -- Encyclopedia Brittanica Online. (http://search.eb.com/eb/article-9078589) Retrieved 2/16/2009.

William Rose Benét was the brother of the poet and novelist Stephen Vincent Benét and the husband of the American poet Elinor Wylie. He was born in Brooklyn, New York, and educated at Yale University. He founded the The Saturday Review of Literature in 1924 and was an editor and columnist for the magazine until his death. His works include "Merchants from Cathay" (1913), "Moons of Grandeur" (1920), "With Wings as Eagles" (1940), and "The Dust Which Is God" (1941), which received the 1942 Pulitzer Prize for poetry. -- The MacDowell Colony website. (http://www.nhptv.org/kn/itv/mcd/wrbenet.htm) Retrieved 2/16/2009.