Domesday Book
Domesday Book is a narrative poetry collection that constructs a communal portrait through fragments of lives intertwined. At its center stands Elenor Murray, whose tragic death becomes the catalyst for a cascading meditation on consequence and connection. Through the voices of those who knew her, the coroner investigating her end, her father wrestling with grief and guilt, neighbors and strangers alike, we glimpse how one life radiates outward into countless others, leaving ripples that never fully dissipate. Masters employs the epitaph form to devastating effect here, each poem a testimony that reveals as much about the speaker as about the departed. The result is not merely a murder mystery or sentimental elegy, but an examination of how society shapes and constrains individuals, particularly women, and how those constraints can prove fatal. The 'inquiry' into Elenor's death becomes a judgment not just of one woman's circumstances, but of an entire system's weight upon the living.
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“To this generation I would say:Memorize some bit of verse of truth or beauty.””
— Edgar Lee Masters
“To put meaning in one's life may end in madness,But life without meaning is the tortureOf restlessness and vague desire--It is a boat longing for the sea and yet afraid.””
— Edgar Lee Masters
“The tongue may be an unruly member--But silence poisons the soul.””
— Edgar Lee Masters
“In time you shall see Fate approach youIn the shape of your own image in the mirror.””
— Edgar Lee Masters
“And I never started to plow in my lifeThat some one did not stop in the roadAnd take me away to a dance or picnic. I ended up with forty acres; I ended up with a broken fiddle”
— Edgar Lee Masters
“the much-sought prize of eternal youthIs just arrested growth.””
— Edgar Lee Masters
“Act well your part,there all the honor lies.””
— Edgar Lee Masters
“I tramped through the countryTo get the feelingThat I was not a separate thing from the earth.I used to lose myselfBy lying with eyes half-open in the woods.Sometimes I talked with animals…””
— Edgar Lee Masters
“This is life's sorrow:That one can be happy only where two are;And that our hearts are drawn to starsWhich want us not.””
— Edgar Lee Masters
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<a href="https://lex-books.com/book/domesday-book-386be2d1-d899-4cd4-a4c5-3b7b7b18fc23"><img src="https://lex-books.com/badges/read-on-lex.svg" alt="Read Domesday Book by Edgar Lee Masters free on Lex" width="160" height="40"></a>[](https://lex-books.com/book/domesday-book-386be2d1-d899-4cd4-a4c5-3b7b7b18fc23)[url=https://lex-books.com/book/domesday-book-386be2d1-d899-4cd4-a4c5-3b7b7b18fc23][img]https://lex-books.com/badges/read-on-lex.svg[/img][/url]Read Domesday Book by Edgar Lee Masters free on Lex: https://lex-books.com/book/domesday-book-386be2d1-d899-4cd4-a4c5-3b7b7b18fc23Cite this book
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Masters, Edgar Lee. Domesday Book. Lex, lex-books.com/book/domesday-book-386be2d1-d899-4cd4-a4c5-3b7b7b18fc23.Masters, E. L. (n.d.). Domesday Book. Lex. https://lex-books.com/book/domesday-book-386be2d1-d899-4cd4-a4c5-3b7b7b18fc23Masters, Edgar Lee. Domesday Book. Lex. https://lex-books.com/book/domesday-book-386be2d1-d899-4cd4-a4c5-3b7b7b18fc23.
