Moody, William Vaughn

Moody, William Vaughn, 1869–1910, American poet and dramatist, b. Spencer, Ind., grad. Harvard, 1893. After writing several verse dramas, Moody achieved wide success with the prose play The Great Divide (produced as A Sabine Woman, 1906). The Faith Healer (1909), however, also written in prose, was less popular. Both his poetry and his plays are noted for their lyricism and philosophical idealism. He also wrote A History of English Literature (1902) with Robert Morss Lovett.

Bibliography

See his poems and plays (2 vol., 1912); studies by M. Halpern (1964) and M. F. Brown (1973).

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Moody, William Vaughn (1869–1910) educator, poet, playwright; born in Spencer, Ind. He began as a teacher at the University of Chicago (1895–1907), then turned to the theater. His poetic plays were not produced; he is known, rather, for his serious social dramas, including The Great Divide (1906). At the time of his premature death, he was regarded as the great hope of a new and mature American school of drama.