Jump To:

• John Brown's Body
  John Brown's Body

  noun

  a long narrative poem (1928) by Stephen Vincent Benét, about the U.S. Civil War.
• “John Brown's Body”
  “John Brown's Body”

  A song of the Civil War that pays tribute to the abolitionist John Brown (see abolitionism). It begins, “John Brown's body lies a-moldering in the grave.”

John Brown's Body

American  

noun

1. a long narrative poem (1928) by Stephen Vincent Benét, about the U.S. Civil War.

---

“John Brown's Body” Cultural  

1. A song of the Civil War that pays tribute to the abolitionist John Brown (see abolitionism). It begins, “John Brown's body lies a-moldering in the grave.”

---

Discover More

“The Battle Hymn of the Republic” was written to the tune of “John Brown's Body.”

Example Sentences

It was introduced in 1897, initially to the tune of the American abolitionist folk song, John Brown's Body.

From BBC • Jan. 27, 2020

A 1948 limited edition copy of "John Brown's Body," the Stephen Vincent Benet poem?

From Fox News • Dec. 22, 2018

“Since I was a kid there’s always been a strong scene here,” says Elliot Martin, lead singer with the nationally acclaimed band John Brown’s Body.

From The Guardian • Nov. 20, 2018

One exchange caught a group of 30 Americans, including the local consul, in a social club; they gamely sang John Brown's Body and other traditional songs as tracer bullets arced overhead.

From Time Magazine Archive

They crowded together in the stern-sheets for warmth, and presently Thorogood started "John Brown's Body Lies A-mouldering in the Grave," without which no properly conducted picnic can come to a fitting conclusion.

From The Long Trick by Bartimeus