Spoon River Anthology
by Edgar Lee Masters, Beatriz Martín Vidal, Mario Giacomelli, Patrick Reumaux · first published 1914
100% recommend
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
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You might enjoy reading "Spoon River Anthology", by Edgar Lee Masters, which was one of the inspirations for Our Town. It's a cycle of short free-verse testimonies "spoken" by the dead in a small town cemetery. Reading them builds up a sort of kaleidoscopic…
on “Thornton Wilder's Last Play Vanished into Thin Air. Or Did It?” ↗But this is about poetry, would Twain qualify as a poet? My vote would go to Edgar Lee Masters because the spoon river anthology is one of the few poetry books I actually read, and it exemplifies a lot of the American spirit, IMVHO.
on “Who Is America's Homer?” ↗I am not very fond of poetry (except some specific poems), but there is one book of english poetry which I think you may enjoy: the Spoon River Anthology[0]. It's a collection of epitaphs for the cemetery of a fictional town, and each one basically tells a story. Fiddler Jones[1] and Blind Jack[2] (coincidentally, both about fiddlers) contain a few of…
on “Ask HN: What Skills to Acquire in 2020?” ↗