Edgar Lee Masters

Spoon River Anthology is a collection of poems by Edgar Lee Masters. Each poem describes a small town character as its subject. These characters make their own decisions, whether good or bad, and put together the lies, secrets, and rumors that Edgar Lee Masters sees as being small town life. All of these tales are of those who have passed on. In the first of the 240 some poems, Edgar Lee Masters describes the characters. He says, "All, all are sleeping, sleeping, sleeping on the hill" (Masters 547). In Spoon River Anthology, Masters exposes the secretive side of small towns that the normal passerbyer doesn't necessarily see. Each character is somehow connected, whether it be through infidelity or promises. This puzzle like effect in the plot adds mystery and suspense to Spoon River Anthology. Yes, it is a collection of poems, but it is the connection through the poems that keeps the reader most interested.

The novel was based on how each individual's philosophy affected how they made their decisions. As a piece during the Regionalism period, it is safe to safe that growing ud in a small town in the Midwest had a great affect on each individual's outlook on life. Both Emerson and Thoreau believed that a person must have a full understanding of themselves to have self-improvement. One of the easiest ways to undersstand a person is to learn about where they came from. Spoon River Anthology not only used the mystery aspect to engage readers, but Edgar Lee Masters also did a nice job at pointing out small details of small town Spoon River. He included the accented dialect that the citizens would of had. He also gave specific names to streets and churches, giving a personal feel to the readers. All of these small, yet significant, details gave the audience a better understanding of Spoon River and gave a sense of imagery that allowed readers to picture the small town for themselves.

Masters, Edgar Lee. “Spoon River Anthology". Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 547. Print