Spoon River Anthology
In the fictional town of Spoon River, the dead refuse to rest quietly. Two hundred and twelve residents speak from beyond the grave, each delivering their own epitaph: a confession, a regret, a devastating truth about the life they lived and the person they truly were. A virtuous woman admits her secret passion. A respected physician reveals the patient he couldn't save. A father explains why he abandoned his children. A schoolteacher recounts the dream that died inside her. Masters dismantled the romantic myth of small-town America with this radical 1915 collection, exposing the hypocrisy, shattered ambitions, and hidden passions that lurked beneath the genteel surface of every front porch and church pew. Written in muscular free verse that felt revolutionary a century ago and still feels vital today, these voices interlock into a chorus of human ambition, failure, and the terrible weight of lives half-lived. The result is not merely a portrait of one town but an archaeology of the American dream itself, digging up what we bury about ourselves.
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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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Masters, Edgar Lee. Spoon River Anthology. Lex, lex-books.com/book/spoon-river-anthology-2f91f715-0174-44da-8eb2-a014c2f8ebd0.Masters, E. L. (n.d.). Spoon River Anthology. Lex. https://lex-books.com/book/spoon-river-anthology-2f91f715-0174-44da-8eb2-a014c2f8ebd0Masters, Edgar Lee. Spoon River Anthology. Lex. https://lex-books.com/book/spoon-river-anthology-2f91f715-0174-44da-8eb2-a014c2f8ebd0.
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