Spoon River Anthology

<p>In <i>Spoon River Anthology</i>, 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 <i>Anthology</i> was the crowning achievement of Masters' career as a poet, and a work that would become a landmark of 20th-century American literature.<br>In these pages, no less than 214 individual voices are heard - some in no more than a dozen moving lines. Alternately plaintive, anguished, enigmatic, angry, and contemptuous, the voices of Spoon River, although distinctively small-town Americans, evoke themes of love and hope, disappointment and despair that are universal in their resonance. This American classic is reprinted here from the authoritative 1915 edition.</p>