Spoon River Anthology

Edgar Lee Masters

Mar 2012 · Courier Corporation

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In Spoon River Anthology, the American poet Edgar Lee Masters (1869–1950) created a series of compelling free-verse monologues in which former citizens of a mythical Midwestern town speak touchingly from the grave of the thwarted hopes and dream of their lives. First published in book form in 1915, the Anthology was the crowning achievement of Masters' career as a poet, and a work that would become a landmark of 20th-century American literature.
In these pages, no less than 214 individual voices are heard — some in no more than a dozen moving lines. Alternately plaintive, anguished, enigmatic, angry, and contemptuous, the voices of Spoon River, although distinctively small-town Americans, evoke themes of love and hope, disappointment and despair that are universal in their resonance. This American classic is reprinted here from the authoritative 1915 edition.

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Edgar Lee Masters, 1868 - 1950 The Kansas-born poet of "Spoon River Anthology" (written in 1915), Edgar Lee Masters, wrote almost 50 volumes but continues to be known for only that one, so great was its extraordinary success. Masters was born on August 23, 1868. His characters created for the verses (which are short postmortem monologues in epitaph form) were borrowed from the old Greek Anthology. By invading the realm of social criticism usually reserved for prose fiction, "Spoon River" anticipated the mood of Sherwood Anderson's "Winesburg, Ohio" and Sinclair Lewis's "Main Street." Masters lived near Spoon River for 11 years; it was his source of inspiration for this work. The 244 characters in the Anthology lay bare, in their own epitaphs, the hypocrisies, jealousies, frustrations and infrequent triumphs of their lives. Masters is often regarded as the last bestselling American poet. "Spoon River" has been adapted into a popular stage version that is frequently performed at colleges, high schools, and community theater.