He grew up in Quincy, Massachusetts and attended Adams Academy in Quincy before earning his B.A. (1909) and M.A. (1911) from Harvard College. After leaving Harvard, Beston took up teaching at University of Lyon. In 1914 he returned to Harvard as an English department assistant. Beston joined the French army in 1915 and served as an ambulance driver. His service in le Bois le Pretre and at the Battle of Verdun was described in his first book, A Volunteer Poilu (1916). Following the end of World War I, Beston began writing fairy tales under the name "Henry Beston." In 1919, The Firelight Fairy Book was published, followed by The Starlight Wonder Book in 1923. During this time, he worked as an editor of The Living Age, an offshoot of The Atlantic Monthly.

    Modern American Poetry contains over 130 poems from American masters such as Ezra Pound, Sara Teasdale, Stephen Vincent Benét, Emily Dickinson, and many others.