William Vaughn Moody (1869-1910) was an American dramatist and poet. He was the author of The Great Divide, first presented under the title of The Sabine Woman at the Garrick Theatre in Chicago in 1906. Moody"s poetic dramas included The Masque of Judgment (1900), The Fire Bringer (1904), and The Death of Eve (left undone at his death). Born at Spencer, Indiana, his parents died while he was a boy, and he had to work to help support himself while he completed his education. After attending New Albany High School he went on to Harvard University, where he graduated in 1893. He taught English at Harvard and Radcliffe until 1895, when he went to Chicago to be assistant professor of English and rhetoric at the University of Chicago. He received the degree of Litt. D. from Yale in 1908, and was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.