John Gneisenau Neihardt (1881-1973) was born near Sharpsburg, Illinois, on 8 January 1881, third child of Nicholas Nathan Neihardt and Alice Culler Neihardt. In 1886, when his father left for Kansas City, Neihardt, his mother, and his sisters moved to his grandfather's farm in northwestern Kansas , moving from there to Kansas City in 1888, upon his father's return. In 1891, when Nicholas left the family permanently, the Neihardt's moved to Wayne, Nebraska.

While living in Wayne, John Neihardt attended the Nebraska Normal College (now Wayne State College), graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree at age 16. In his studies at Nebraska Normal College, he was exposed to many of the works that influenced his poetry, including the classics, such as Virgil's epic poetry and Hindu mysticism.

Neihardt's first book, The Divine Enchantment, was completed at the age of 16 and published, with the aid of a loan co-signed by his uncle, shortly after he completed his degree at Nebraksa Normal College. A short time following the book's publication, however, Neihardt became dissatisfied with it and bought back all of the copies that he could locate.

After teaching at a country school for two terms, he moved to Bancroft, Nebraska, in 1900, where he worked as an assistant to a land agent among the Omaha Indians. Neihardt's reputation was built upon his experiences with the Omaha Indians, which were espressed through the works he published in magazines such as The Overland Monthly, The Outing Magazine, and The Smart Set. He later edited a country weekly, the Bancroft Blade, for several years. During this time, Neihardt began writing fiction and lyric verse with rapidly increasing national success. His most famous works from this period include a sequence of love lyrics, entitled A Bundle of Myrrh (1907), Man-Song (1909), and The Stranger at the Gate (1912).

In 1908 Neihardt was married to Mona Martinsen, the daughter of Rudolph Vincent and Ada Martinsen of New York City. At the age of eighteen Mona had discovered a talent for sculpture and studied with a New York sculptor and later with Rodin in Paris. Upon her return to New York, Mona read A Bundle of Myrrh and wrote to Neihardt. A correspondence began and lasted for six months, ending only when they met at a train station in Omaha, Nebraksa. They were married the following day. The Neihardts eventually had four children: Enid, Sigurd, Hilda, and Alice.

In 1912, at the age of 31, Neihardt began writing his major work, entitled A Cycle of the West, to which he devoted twenty- nine years of his life. Part of Neihardt's inspiration for this work arose from a 1908 trip in which he built a boat and traveled down the Missouri River from Fort Benton, Montana, to Sioux City, Iowa. Niehardt recorded this voyage in The River and I. By following the path of many of the early fur-trappers and traders, Neihardt became convinced of the importance of their legends. In A Cycle of the West the poet composed epic poems based upon the exploits of the Ashley-Henry men, two groups of a hundred men who traveled up the Missouri River in 1822 and 1823 with General William Henry Ashley and Major Henry to gather furs.

While working on the five individual Songs that composed A Cycle of the West, Neihardt made several changes in his life and worked at several different jobs. After completing the second Song Neihardt and his family moved to Branson, Missouri, where the poet could enjoy the peace and seclusion that was essential to his writing. Neihardt supported his family at this time through lecture tours, which he scheduled only when financial instability was imminent . In 1921 he was made poet laureate of Nebraska by legislative enactment. In an effort to provide steady income for his family, he took a job as literary editor of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch from 1926 to 1938.

During a vacation from his job as literary editor in 1930, Neihardt experienced one of the most influential periods of his life. In researching material for The Song of the Messiah, he visited the Pine Ridge Reservation to talk with members of the Sioux tribe. While on the reservation Neihardt met and became close friends with Black Elk, one of the last holy men of the Oglalas. Black Elk, who was one of the most important influences in Neihardt's life, shared much of his own life with him, including a vision in which he saw people of all colors united under one tree. From his conversations with Black Elk, Neihardt composed his best known work, Black Elk Speaks.

Following the completion of the last of the Songs, Niehardt again faced financial difficulties and went in search of work. He worked for short periods as manuscript reader for Esquire and as a camp counselor for the YMCA. Finally, in 1943, he approached John Collier, Director of the Office of Indian Affairs, and was appointed as Director of Information for the office.

In 1947 Neihardt relocated again, to a farm, which he named Skyrim, near Columbia, Missouri. The following year Neihardt joined the faculty of the University of Missouri as Poet in Residence and as lecturer in English. At the University, he taught classes on Epic America, poetry writing, and the critical essay. While in Columbia, Neihardt completed When the Tree Flowered, a book based on Sioux life and culture. Neihardt remained in Columbia until his death in 1973, witnessing the rising popularity of his works and completing an autobiography entitled All Is But a Beginning.