In Spoon River Anthology, Edgar Lee Masters' most successful and enduring work, the dead speak to the present through free verse epitaphs. They reveal secret hopes and hidden crimes, injustices and sweet remembrances, the small-mindedness of small towns and the joys of simple living. All the denizens of small town middle America are represented, from across the years and across the socio-economic spectrum. They all are equal in death and all have their say, each revealing their unique perspective of their intertwined lives.

Originally published under the pseudonym Dexter Wallace in the Mirror, St. Louis, over the course of 1914 and 1915, the poems were received with critical acclaim. Even more significantly, the Spoon River poems opened up the world of poetry to "non-specialist readers", people who would not otherwise read poetry. The enduring popularity of the Spoon River Anthology is a testament to the continuing accessiblity of Masters' verse and the universality of the themes explored. Masters based many of the poems on people and incidents in his two hometowns of Petersburg and Lewiston, Illinois.

The complete set of poems include new poems added in 1916.

For the price conscious, The Spoon River Anthology is available in a Dover Thrift Edition (ISBN 0486272753) for a mere US$2. So much pleasure to be had for such a small price. Thanks to "cheap college student" cbustapeck for bringing this to my attention.

CST Approved • Spoon River Anthology is available through Project Gutenberg

Spoon River Anthology

                               The Hill

Altman, Herman         Hainsfeather, Barney      Pantier, Benjamin
Andy the Night-Watch   Hamblin, Carl             Pantier, Mrs. Benjamin
Armstrong, Hannah      Hately, Constance         Pantier, Reuben
Arnett, Harold         Hatfield, Aaron           Peet, Rev. Abner
Justice Arnett         Hawkins, Elliott          Pennington, Willie
Atherton, Lucius       Hawley, Jeduthan          Penniwit the Artist
                       Henry, Chase              Petit the Poet
Ballard, John          Herndon, William H.       Phipps, Henry 
Barker, Amanda         Heston, Roger             Plymouth Rock Joe
Barrett, Pauline       Higbie, Archibald         Poague, Peleg 
Bartlett, Ezra         Hill, Doc                 Pollard, Edmund
Bateson, Marie         Hoheimer, Knowlt          Potter, Cooney
Beatty, Tom            Holden, Barry             Puckett, Lydia
Beethoven, Isaiah      Hookey, Sam               Purkapile, Mrs.
Bennett, Hon. Henry    Houghton, Jonathan        Purkapile, Roscoe
Bindle, Nicholas       Howard, Jefferson         Putt, Hod 
Blind Jack             Hueffer, Cassius          
Bliss, Mrs. Charles    Hummel, Oscar             Reece, Mrs. George
Blood, A. D.           Humphrey, Lydia           Rhodes, Ralph
Bloyd, Wendell P.      Huxley, Scholfield        Rhodes, Thomas
Bone, Richard          Hutchins, Lambert         Richter, Gustav
Branson, Caroline      Hyde, Ernest              Robbins, Hortense
Brown, Jim                                       Roberts, Rosie
Brown, Sarah           Iseman, Dr. Siegfried     Ross, Thomas, Jr.
Browning, Elijah                                 Russian Sonia 
Burke, Robert Southey  James, Godwin             Rutledge, Anne
Burleson, John Horace  Johnson, Voltaire         
Butler, Roy            Jones, Fiddler            Sayre, Johnnie 
                       Jones, Franklin           Scates, Hiram
Cabanis, Flossie       Jones, "Indignation"      Schirding, Albert
Cabanis, John          Jones, Minerva            Schmidt, Felix
Calhoun, Granville     Jones, William            Schroeder the Fisherman
Calhoun, Henry C.                                Scott, Julian    
Campbell, Calvin       Karr, Elmer               Sexsmith the Dentist
Carlisle, Jeremy       Keene, Jonas              Sewall, Harlan
Carman, Eugene         Keene, Kinsey             Sharp, Percival
Cheney, Columbus       Kessler, Bert             Shaw, "Ace"
Chicken, Ida           Kessler, Mrs.             Shelley, Percy Bysshe
Childers, Elizabeth    Killion, Captain Orlando  Shope, Tennessee Claflin
Church, John M.        Kincaid, Russell          Sibley, Amos 
Churchill, Alfonso     King, Lyman               Sibley, Mrs.
The Circuit Judge      Knapp, Nancy              Siever, Conrad
Clapp, Homer           Konovaloff, Ippolit       Simmons, Walter
Clark, Nellie          Kritt, Dow                Sissman, Dillard
Clute, Aner                                      Slack, Margaret Fuller 
Compton, Seth          Layton, Henry             Smith, Louise 
Conant, Edith          Lively, Judge Selah       Somers, Jonathan Swift
Culbertson, E. C.                                Somers, Judge
                       M'Cumber, Daniel          Sparks, Emily   
Davidson, Robert       McDowell, Rutherford      Spears, Lois
Dement, Silas          McFarlane, Widow          Standard, W. Lloyd Garrison
Dippold the Optician   McGee, Fletcher           Stewart, Lillian
Dixon, Joseph          McGee, Ollie              Stoddard, Judson
Dobyns, Batterton      McGee, Fletcher           
Drummer, Frank         McGee, Ollie              Tanner, Robert Fulton
Drummer, Hare          M'Grew, Jennie            Taylor, Deacon 
Dunlap, Enoch          M'Grew, Mickey            Theodore the Poet
Dye, Shack             McGuire, Jack             Thornton, English
                       McNeely, Mary             Throckmorton, Alexander
Ehrenhardt, Imanuel    McNeely, Paul             Todd, Eugenia
                       McNeely, Washington       Tompkins, Josiah
Fallas, State's Att'y  Malloy, Father            The Town Marshal
Fawcett, Clarence      Many Soldiers             Trainor the Druggist
Ferguson, Wallace      Marsh, Zilpha             Trevelyan, Thomas
Findlay, Anthony       Marshall, Herbert         Trimble, George 
Fluke, Willard         Mason, Serepta            Tripp, Henry
Foote, Searcy          Matheny, Faith            Tubbs, Hildrup
Ford, Webster          Matlock, Davis            Turner, Francis
Fraser, Benjamin       Matlock, Lucinda          Tutt, Oaks
Fraser, Daisy          Melveny, Abel             
French, Charlie        Merritt, Mrs.             The Unknown
Frickey, Ida           Merritt, Tom              
                       Metcalf, Willie           The Village Atheist
Garber, James          Meyers, Doctor            
Gardner, Samuel        Meyers, Mrs.              Wasson, John
Garrick, Amelia        Micure, Hamlet            Wasson Rebecca
Godbey, Jacob          Miles, J. Milton          Webster, Charles
Goldman, Le Roy        Miller, Julia             Weirauch, Adam 
Goode, William         Miner, Georgine Sand      Weldy, "Butch"
Goodhue, Harry Carey   Moir, Alfred              Wertman, Elsa
Goodpasture, Jacob                               Whedon, Editor 
Graham, Magrady        Newcomer, Professor       Whitney, Harmon
Gray, George           Nutter, Isa               Wiley, Rev. Lemuel
Green, Ami                                       Will, Arlo
Greene, Hamilton       Osborne, Mabel            William and Emily
Griffy the Cooper      Otis, John Hancock        Williams, Dora
Gustine, Dorcas                                  Williams, Mrs.
                                                 Wilmans, Harry     
                                                 Witt, Zenas

                                                 Yee Bow  
 
                                                 Zoll, Perry

                          The Spooniad*
                            Epilogue*
*These poems are, in my judgement, overly long for inclusion in the Everything2 database. If an editor or god thinks they can be accommodated, please /msg me and I shall gladly node them.

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