Spoon River Anthology (Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Edgar Lee Masters
- First Published: 1915
- Type of Work: Poetry
- Genres: Free verse, Poetry, Lyric sequence, Epitaph
- Subjects: United States or Americans, Twentieth century, Nineteenth century, Midwest, Poetry or poets, 1910’s, Death or dying, Small-town life, Banks, bankers, or banking, Cemeteries
- Locales: Midwest (U.S.), Spoon River, Midwest (U.S.)
Spoon River Anthology encourages and almost demands the rereadings of epitaphs, because almost all these poems make references to characters and events mentioned in other poems. The reader soon comes to appreciate that each inhabitant of Spoon River expresses a partial and very personal perception of reality. The speakers, who are all now dead, will never understand that their views of themselves differ greatly from the opinions held by their fellow villagers. Each rereading of epitaphs helps one to see beyond appearances in order to discover the hidden and complex emotional and...
[The entire page is 1733 words long]
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