Beginning of Wisdom Author:Stephen Vincent Benet 1921. Stephen Vincent Benet, poet, novelist, and short-story writer. His Pulitzer Prize-winning poem John Brown's Body is still considered the quintessential American war poem. The autobiographical The Beginning of Wisdom is his first novel. Partial Contents: Prologue to Phillip; Parabalou!; Frankie and Johnny were Lovers; Cold Mountains; Amateu... more »r Theatricals; The Tinsel Heaven-A Dream; Terra Firma; and The Fear of the Lord.« less