This Is My Beloved[edit]

His book of poems addressed to "Lillian" was written in diary form. It was described in 1949 as "forthright love poems" and said to be "the best-selling poetry volume of recent years" having sold 350,000 copies at that time. Atlantic Records issued it as the company's first 331⁄3-rpm long-playing album in March 1949, with the poem narrated by John Dall and scored for a 28 piece orchestra and 16 voice chorus.^[4][5][6] The jazz musician Arthur Prysock read verses from Benton's book of poems against a jazz instrumental backdrop on his album This Is My Beloved (rec. 1968, rel. 1969).^[7] Other recorded versions of the poems from This Is My Beloved were a 1956 narration by Alfred Ryder with a musical score by Vernon Duke and another in 1962 by Laurence Harvey accompanied by Herbie Mann.^[8][9]