William Rose Benet Biography | Poet

William Rose Benét (February 2, 1886 — May 4, 1950) was an American poet, writer and editor. He was the older brother of Stephen Vincent Benét.

He was born in Brooklyn, New York, and educated The Albany Academy in Albany, NY and at Yale University. He began the Saturday Review of Literature in 1924 and continued to edit and write for it until his death.

Benet's second (of four) wives was the American poet Elinor Wylie. Benet was also wed to Teresa France Thomson (d.1919) and to children's writer Marjorie Flack, (1887-1958), who outlived him.

In 1942 he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for his book of autobiographical verse, The Dust Which Is God (1941).

He is also the author of The Reader's Encyclopedia, thought of as the standard American guide to world literature.

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