Spoon River Anthology

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Acknowledgements

  Introduction

  THE HILL*

  HOD PUTT*

  OLLIE MCGEE

  FLETCHER MCGEE

  ROBERT FULTON TANNER

  CASSIUS HUEFFER

  SEREPTA MASON*

  AMANDA BARKER

  CONSTANCE HATELY

  CHASE HENRY

  HARRY CAREY GOODHUE

  JUDGE SOMERS

  KINSEY KEENE

  BENJAMIN PANTIER

  MRS. BENJAMIN PANTIER

  REUBEN PANTIER

  EMILY SPARKS

  TRAINOR, THE DRUGGIST

  DAISY FRASER

  BENJAMIN FRASER

  MINERVA JONES

  “INDIGNATION” JONES

  DOCTOR MEYERS

  MRS. MEYERS*

  "BUTCH” WELDY

  KNOWLT HOHEIMER

  LYDIA PUCKETT

  FRANK DRUMMER

  HARE DRUMMER

  CONRAD SIEVER

  DOC HILL

  ANDY THE NIGHT-WATCH

  SARAH BROWN

  PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY

  FLOSSIE CABANIS

  JULIA MILLER

  JOHNNIE SAYRE

  CHARLIE FRENCH

  ZENAS WITT

  THEODORE THE POET*

  THE TOWN MARSHAL

  JACK MCGUIRE

  DORCAS GUSTINE

  NICHOLAS BINDLE

  JACOB GOODPASTURE

  HAROLD ARNETT

  MARGARET FULLER SLACK

  GEORGE TRIMBLE

  DR. SIEGRFIED ISEMAN

  “ACE” SHAW*

  LOIS SPEARS

  JUSTICE ARNETT

  WILLARD FLUKE

  ANER CLUTE

  LUCIUS ATHERTON

  HOMER CLAPP

  DEACON TAYLOR

  SAM HOOKEY

  COONEY POTTER

  FIDDLER JONES

  NELLIE CLARK

  LOUISE SMITH

  HERBERT MARSHALL

  GEORGE GRAY

  HON. HENRY BENNETT

  GRIFFY THE COOPER

  SERSMITH THE DENTIST

  A. D. BLOOD

  ROBERT SOUTHEY BURKE

  DORA WILLIAMS

  MRS. WILLIAMS

  WILLIAM AND EMILY

  THE CIRCUIT JUDGE

  BLIND JACK

  JOHN HORACE BURLESON

  NANCY KNAPP

  BARRY HOLDEN

  STATE’S ATTORNEY FALLAS

  WENDELL P. BLOYD

  FRANCIS TURNER

  FRANKLIN JONES

  JOHN M. CHURCH

  RUSSIAN SONIA

  ISA NUTTER

  BARNEY HAINSFEATHER

  PETIT, THE POET

  PAULINE BARRETT

  MRS. CHARLES BLISS

  MRS. GEORGE REECE

  REV. LEMUEL WILEY

  THOMAS ROSS, JR.

  REV. ABNER PEET

  JEFFERSON HOWARD

  JUDGE SELAH LIVELY

  ALBERT SCHIRDING

  JONAS KEENE

  EUGENIA TODD

  YEE BOW

  WASHINGTON MCNEELY

  PAUL MCNEELY

  MARY MCNEELY

  DANIEL M’CUMBER

  GEORGINE SAND MINER

  THOMAS RHODES*

  IDA CHICKEN

  PENNIWIT, THE ARTIST

  JIM BROWN

  ROBERT DAVIDSON

  ELSA WERTMAN

  HAMILTON GREENE

  ERNEST HYDE

  ROGER HESTON

  AMOS SIBLEY*

  MRS. SIBLEY

  ADAM WEIRAUCH

  EZRA BARTLETT

  AMELIA GARRICK

  JOHN HANCOCK OTIS

  ANTHONY FINDLAY

  JOHN CABANIS

  THE UNKNOWN

  ALEXANDER THROCKMORTON

  JONATHAN SWIFT SOMERS*

  WIDOW MCFARLANE

  CARL HAMBLIN

  EDITOR WHEDON

  EUGENE CARMAN

  CLARENCE FAWCETT

  W. LLOYD GARRISON STANDARD

  PROFESSOR NEWCOMER

  RALPH RHODES

  MICKEY M’GREW

  ROSIE ROBERTS

  OSCAR HUMMEL

  ROSCOE PURKAPILE

  MRS. PURKAPILE

  JOSIAH TOMPKINS

  MRS. KESSLER

  HARMON WHITNEY

  BERT KESSLER

  LAMBERT HUTCHINS

  LILLIAN STEWART

  HORTENSE ROBBINS

  BATTERTON DOBYNS

  JACOB GODBEY

  WALTER SIMMONS

  TOM BEATTY

  ROY BUTLER

  SEARCY FOOTE

  EDMUND POLLARD

  THOMAS TREVELYAN

  PERCIVAL SHARP

  HIRAM SCATES

  PELEG POAGUE

  JEDUTHAN HAWLEY

  ABEL MELVENY

  OAKS TUTT

  ELLIOTT HAWKINS

  VOLTAIRE JOHNSON

  ENGLISH THORNTON

  ENOCH DUNLAP

  IDA FRICKEY

  SETH COMPTON

  FELIX SCHMIDT

  SCHRŒDER THE FISHERMAN

  RICHARD BONE

  SILAS DEMENT

  DILLARD SISSMAN

  JONATHAN HOUGHTON

  E. C. CULBERTSON

  SHACK DYE

  HILDRUP TUBBS

  HENRY TRIPP

  GRANVILLE CALHOUN

  HENRY C. CALHOUN

  ALFRED MOIR

  PERRY ZOLL

  DIPPOLD THE OPTICIAN

  MAGRADY GRAHAM

  ARCHIBALD HIGBIE

  TOM MERRITT

  MRS. MERRITT

  ELMER KARR

  ELIZABETH CHILDERS

  EDITH CONANT

  CHARLES WEBSTER

  FATHER MALLOY

  AMI GREEN

  CALVIN CAMPBELL

  HENRY LAYTON

  HARLAN SEWALL

  IPPOLIT KONOVALOFF

  HENRY PHIPPS

  HARRY WILMANS

  JOHN WASSON

  MANY SOLDIERS

  GODWIN JAMES

  LYMAN KING

  CAROLINE BRANSON

  ANNE RUTLEDGE

  HAMLET MICURE

  MABEL OSBORNE

  WILLIAM H. HERNDON*

  REBECCA WASSON

  RUTHERFORD MCDOWELL

  HANNAH ARMSTRONG

  LUCINDA MATLOCK

  DAVIS MATLOCK

  HERMAN ALTMAN

  JENNIE M’GREW

  COLUMBUS CHENEY

  WALLACE FERGUSON

  MARIE BATESON

  TENNESSEE CLAFLIN SHOPE

  PLYMOUTH ROCK JOE

  IMANUEL EHRENHARDT*

  SAMUEL GARDNER

  DOW KRITT

  WILLIAM JONES

  WILLIAM GOODE

  J. MILTON MILES

  FAITH MATHENY

  SCHOLFIELD HURLEY

  WILLIE METCALF

  WILLIE PENNINGTON

  THE VILLAGE ATHEIST

  JOHN BALLARD

  JULIAN SCOTT

  ALFONZO CHURCHILL

  ZILPHA MARSH

  JAMES GARBER

  LYDIA HUMPHREY

  LE ROY GOLDMAN

  GUSTAV RICHTER

  ARLO WILL

  CAPTAIN ORLANDO KILLION

  JEREMY CARLISLE

  JOSEPH DIXON

  JUDSON STODDARD

  RUSSELL KINCAID

  AARON HATFIELD

  ISAIAH BEETHOVEN

  ELIJAH BROWNING

  WEBSTER FORD*

  THE SPOONIAD

  EPILOGUE

  Explanatory Notes

  SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY

  EDGAR LEE MASTERS
was born in 1868 in Garnett, Kansas, and grew up in the western Illinois farmlands where his grandparents had settled in the 1820s. He attended Knox College for one year, after which he relocated to Chicago. There he entered into a law partnership that eventually included Clarence Darrow. During the late 1890s, he began writing a series of essays and plays under the pseudonym Dexter Wallace. In 1915, he published his major work, the Spoon River Anthology, named after the picturesque landscape near his home. This collection was met with much acclaim and honored with several literary awards, including the Poetry Society of America Medal, the Shelley Memorial Award, and the Academy of American Poets fellowship. Masters followed up Spoon River Anthology with several other, lesser known collections of poems, namely The Great Valley (1916), Toward the Gulf (1918), Starved Rock (1919), The Open Sea (1921), The New Spoon River (1924), Selected Poems (1925), Poems of People (1936), and More People (1939). Later in life, Masters also tried his hand at fiction and biography, penning the novel Mitch Miller (1920) and biographies Whitman (1937) and the controversial Lincoln: The Man (1931), in addition to Mark Twain: A Portrait (1938). He died in 1950 in Melrose, Pennsylvania, and is buried in Oakland Cemetery in Petersburg, Illinois.

  JEROME LOVING, a recipient of the Guggenheim and National Endowment for the Humanities fellowships for biography, is Distinguished Professor of English at Texas A&M University. His previous publications include Emily Dickinson: The Poet on the Second Story; Walt Whitman: The Song of Himself; and The Last Titan: A Life of Theodore Dreiser.

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  First published in the United States of America by The Macmillan Company 1915

  This edition with an introduction and notes by Jerome Loving published in Penguin Books 2008

  Introduction and notes copyright © Jerome Loving, 2008

  All rights reserved

  LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

  Masters, Edgar Lee, 1868-1950.

  Spoon River anthology / Edgar Lee Masters ; introduction and notes by Jerome Loving.

  p. cm.

  “First published in the United States of America by The Macmillan Company 1915.”

  Includes bibliographical references.

  eISBN : 978-0-143-10515-2

  1. Loving, Jerome, 1941- II. Title.

  PS3525.A83S5 2008

  811’.52—dc22 2008003519

  The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

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  Acknowledgments

  I would like to thank Ed Folsom, Hilary Masters, J. Lawrence Mitchell, and Paul Christensen for reading a draft of my introduction and making helpful suggestions.

  Introduction

  In the summer of 1915, Theodore Dreiser held a reception for Edgar Lee Masters at his Greenwich Village apartment. The two writers had known each other for at least three years. Dreiser, the “Father of American Realism” (or at least naturalism), was already famous for five or six books, most notably Sister Carrie, which in 1900 set the stage for novels and poetry that would envision life as a biological trap. Dreiser had blazed the trail in fiction that Masters followed in poetry. Indeed, by that summer the Chicago lawyer and former partner with Clarence Darrow was possibly more famous than the great Dreiser. Spoon River Anthology (1915) immediately became a huge literary splash. Its sales for the next three or four years made it America’s all-time best-seller for a serious book of poems.

  Ever since the short poems began appearing in 1914 in the St. Louis weekly Reedy’s Mirror, the excitement about this new poet had been mounting. By the time it reached book form in the spring of 1915, Spoon River had gone through seven printings in the same number of months. “At last,” Ezra Pound announced from England in the Egoist, “America has discovered a poet.” He ranked Masters with T. S. Eliot, who had recently published “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.” On March 4, 1914, the Literary Digestwrote: “Not since the British discovered Walt Whitman for America and blamed us for our in-appreciation, has an American literary sensation struck England with the impact of ‘Spoon River Anthology.’”

  The Spoon River poems initially appeared under the pseudonym Webster Ford. Masters, steeped in English literature as well as the Roman and Greek classics, had combined the surnames of two major dramatists of the English Renaissance known for their tragic themes: John Webster and John Ford. Now all the world knew the true identity of the author of the famous Spoon River epitaphs, lapidary, or tombstone verse that may have been inspired in part by such nineteenth-century works as E. W. Howe’s The Story of a Country Town (1883) and Mark Twain’s “The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg” (1899), stories that suggested the hypocrisy and superficiality of a small-town environment. On the other side of the spectrum, Spoon River Anthology, with its theme of the buried life, would open the way to such penetrating psychological works in the twentieth century as Sherwood Anderson’s Winesburg, Ohio (1919), Sinclair Lewis’s Main Street (1920), and Thornton Wilder’s Our Town (1938), the principal monuments of a phase of American fiction known as “The Revolt from the Village” (1915-30). Now the previously sacrosanct village or small-town life is depicted as no better than life in the immoral and indifferent city. The characters’ voices in Spoon River Anthology speak from the grave about their tormented and twisted lives— illicit love affairs, betrayed confidences, political corruption, and miserable marriages. As much the result of the author’s own pessimistic view of life as any factually based record, Masters’s book sums up the life of a small town’s residents who simply know too much about one another and burn eternally, like the flickering souls in Dante’s Inferno.

  There were a number of literary celebrities at Dreiser’s place that day in the summer of 1915, including many who are now as nearly as forgotten or out of fashion as Masters himself. There was, for example, the English novelist John Cowper Powys, who called Masters “the new Chaucer.” Dreiser himself compared the forty-five-year-old Masters to Walt Whitman, a view that was then widely held. Dreiser’s naturalistic fiction had exerted a strong influence on Masters. In 1912, he told the novelist after reading The Financier that he thought no one else understood the facts of American life more than Dreiser did. Masters even included Dreiser in his Spoon River Anthology under “Theodore the Poet,” who as a boy had waited patiently for crawfish to come out of their burrows on “the turbid Spoon”:

  But later your vision watched for men and women

  Hiding in burrows of fate amid great cities,

  Looking for the souls of them to come out,

  So that you could see

  How they lived, and for what[.]

  Dreiser occupied a unique place
in this collection of portraits arranged in a manner after The Greek Anthology, a collection of short poems in the first person (a technique recommended by his editor at the time, William Marion Reedy). For one thing, he is not dead. And, if the characters are also observers of life, they observe their own failures in life, their frustrations and their painful shortcomings, unlike Theodore the Poet.

  Masters had written rhymed and metered verse in his first twelve books of poetry, plays, and political essays. Taking his title from The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, he called his first volume of poems A Book of Verse in 1898. This was followed by another volume of conventional poems under the title of The Blood of the Prophets in 1905, but a year earlier he had tried his hand with political essays in The New Star Chamber and Other Essays. His early attempts in literature also included at least two verse plays. One, according to Herbert K. Russell, his only biographer, was entitled Benedict Arnold, which appeared around 1898. Another play, also radical in thought, was called Maximillian(1905); it contained a veiled complaint about America’s foreign policies in the Philippines. A year or two later, Masters turned to writing short verse plays, which he printed privately and tried unsuccessfully to get produced. These included Althea (1907), The Trifler (1908), and The Leaves of the Tree (1909), and their themes anticipated Spoon River Anthology in that he turned primarily to the troubled relations between men and women. By 1910, with his plays unsuccessfully circulating among actors and directors in the Chicago area, he returned to poetry under the pseudonym of Webster Ford in Songs and Sonnets (1910) and Songs and Sonnets: Second Series (1912). These poems were vaguely autobiographical in that they reflected his troubled marriage and at least one extramarital affair. As Masters shifted from public to personal themes, his language became less conventional and more vernacular, anticipating its application in his greatest work.

  The 245 epitaphs in the augmented 1916 Spoon River Anthology (the basis for this Penguin edition) were written in free verse, or what William Dean Howells in one of the few negative notices dismissed as “shredded prose.” Howells, the “Dean” of American Letters at the time, hadn’t liked Whitman’s vers libre either. Nor had he approved of the naturalism of Sister Carrie, in which human beings are determined by the accident of nature—by their heredity and their environment. In Masters’s epitaphs of those many souls “sleeping on the hill” in the fictional town of Spoon River (the name derives from an actual spring near Lewistown, Illinois), the former residents are—like Dreiser’s characters—victims of sex. The dead in “The Hill,” the opening epitaph in Spoon River Anthology, include “Ella, Kate, Mag, Lizzie and Edith:”