Spoon River Anthology

The story I will be reflecting over is called Spoon River Anthology by Edgar Lee Masters. The story itself is actually a collection of fictional poems from people who lived in a fictional place called Spoon River, Illinois. The tales they tell are a cumulative of tow-hundred and twelve characters with a grand total of two-hundred and forty-four stories/poems total. These were all very realistic tales and stories that portray their feelings and lively hoods at this time. Masters would even make most of his stories have names based on real live people he had heard of who passed away. The author even went as far as writing a poem on a women named Ann Rutledge, best known for possibly being the love interest of a Mr. Abraham Lincoln himself. (Willinghton) Although this isn't actually proven it gives these groups of tales a lot of spice and political scandal that at the time would have been pretty interesting to a reader. Although I have not, and more likely will not, go through all of the poems I have read a few. So far I have discovered that there are multiple stories that involve historical people and events. Such as the poem "Kinsey Keene" says, "Of Napoleon’s guard on Mount Saint Jean; At the battle field of Waterloo" (Masters 1) This was just one of many that would talk about a very important and well known historical figure. Many of them display facts and real life situations that are written so well that even if they were made up, you would believe them to be very real. This makes Masters such a wonderful author and puts him in a very close category with Thoreau and Emerson because they all have such raw writing styles. They seem to hold very little back giving the reader a very intense connection with the writing. A huge similarity between Thoreau and Masters is their very keen way of getting into the political parts through their writing. Although Thoreau was much more into the actual political issues, Masters was much more interested in the political scandals. Such as the Abraham Lincoln and Anne Rutledge controversy of whether or not they were truly lovers. His two-hundredth poem names "Anne Rutledge" said, "I am Anne Rutledge who sleep beneath these weeds, ;Beloved in life of Abraham Lincoln, ;Wedded to him, not through union, ;But through separation. ;Bloom forever, O Republic, ;From the dust of my bosom!" inferring that the controversy is not a controversy at all but a cold hard fact. This gives this story a real nail biting and even awkward feeling because as the reader you not know if this is true, but your reading it as if it were as real as a definition. This makes these stories so gripping and interesting to read, they are all so real feeling and have again such a raw truth to them that no one can deny is all thanks to the great author Edgar Lee Masters.


1) Masters, Edgar Lee. "13. Kinsey Keene. Masters, Edgar Lee. 1916. Spoon River Anthology." Bartleby.com: Great Books Online. Bartleby Bookstores. Web. 03 Mar. 2012. .

2)Masters, Edgar Lee. "200. Anne Rutledge. Masters, Edgar Lee. 1916. Spoon River Anthology." Bartleby.com: Great Books Online. Bartleby Bookstores. Web. 03 Mar. 2012. .


Willinghton, William. "Spoon River Anthology." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 29 Feb. 2012. Web. 03 Mar. 2012. .