William Rose Benét
William Rose Benét was an American poet and journalist, known for his contributions to literature as well as his familial ties to other literary figures. Born into a military family, he initially pursued a military career before discovering his passion for writing poetry while studying at Albany Academy. He graduated from Yale in 1907 and had a complex personal life, marked by four marriages, including a notable union with the poet Elinor Wylie. His professional journey began in journalism, where he worked at the magazine Century and later co-founded the Literary Review and the Saturday Review of Literature. Benét gained recognition for his poetry, which often faced mixed reviews for its sentimentality, particularly when compared to the works of his brother, Stephen Vincent Benét. Despite this, he achieved significant acclaim, notably winning the Pulitzer Prize in 1942 for his collection "The Dust Which Is God," which reflects his patriotic themes and deep religious faith. Benét's literary legacy remains an important part of American poetry and journalism.
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Subject Terms
William Rose Benét
Poet, Children's Literature Writer
- Born: February 2, 1886
- Birthplace: Brooklyn, New York
- Died: May 4, 1950
- Place of death: New York, New York
Biography
The son of a career army officer, William Rose Benét believed himself destined for the military and began his higher education at the Albany Academy, a military school. While there, he began writing poetry after discovering that he had inherited his father’s love of literature. Benét left Albany Academy for Yale and graduated in 1907. He was married four times. He married his first wife, Teresa Frances Thompson in 1912, and she bore his only three children before her death in 1919. Benét next married his friend’s sister, the poet Elinor Wylie, in 1923. Although the two remained married until Wylie died in 1928, for most of those five years, Benét and Wylie lived apart and led separate lives. In 1932, Benét married Lorna Baxter, whom he divorced five years later. His final marriage, to Marjorie Flack, took place in 1941.
Benét began his career as a journalist in 1911 by taking a job as an office boy for the magazine Century, where he went on to become assistant editor. During World War I, Benét left the magazine for the U.S. Signal Corp, where he served briefly as a second lieutenant in the aviation section before being honorably discharged because of poor eyesight. Returning to New York, he wrote advertising copy for a year before cofounding the Literary Review in 1920. Four years later he helped found yet another magazine, Saturday Review of Literature, where he would work for the rest of his life. At Saturday Review of Literature, Benét worked as coeditor and contributed a regular column called “The Phoenix Nest.” Benét also began publishing poetry to mixed reviews. Although he had a good grasp of traditional poetic technique, he was often criticized for the sentimentality of his subjects. Unfairly, but predictably, he was frequently unfavorably compared to his brother, the poet Stephen Vincent Benét, and to his wife Elinor Wylie, who experienced her greatest fame during the years she was married to Benét. He was not without honor, though, and in 1942 he won the Pulitzer Prize for The Dust Which Is God, a collection of autobiographical and patriotic verse. This work and his others show Benét’s talent, patriotism, and his abiding religious faith.