Books by Edgar Lee Masters

Edgar Lee Masters (1868-1950) was an American attorney, poet, biographer, and dramatist. He is the author of Spoon River Anthology, The New Star Chamber and Other Essays, Songs and Satires, The Great Valley, The Serpent in the Wilderness, An Obscure Tale, The Spleen, Mark Twain: A Portrait, Lincoln: The Man, and Illinois Poems. In all, Masters published twelve plays, twenty-one books of poetry, six novels and six biographies, including those of Abraham Lincoln, Mark Twain, Vachel Lindsay, and Walt Whitman. The culture around Lewistown, in addition to the town's cemetery at Oak Hill, and the nearby Spoon River were the inspirations for many of his works, most notably Spoon River Anthology, his most famous and acclaimed work. It gained a huge popularity, but shattered his position as a respectable member of establishment.

Edgar Lee Masters (1868-1950) was an American attorney, poet, biographer, and dramatist. He is the author of Spoon River Anthology, The New Star Chamber and Other Essays, Songs and Satires, The Great Valley, The Serpent in the Wilderness, An Obscure Tale, The Spleen, Mark Twain: A Portrait, Lincoln: The Man, and Illinois Poems. In all, Masters published twelve plays, twenty-one books of poetry, six novels and six biographies, including those of Abraham Lincoln, Mark Twain, Vachel Lindsay, and Walt Whitman. The culture around Lewistown, in addition to the town's cemetery at Oak Hill, and the nearby Spoon River were the inspirations for many of his works, most notably Spoon River Anthology, his most famous and acclaimed work. It gained a huge popularity, but shattered his position as a respectable member of establishment.

The Spoon River Anthology is a classic collection of poems by Edgar Lee Masters, with verses dedicated and named for members of a fictional small American town.Edgar Masters intention when he composed these verses was to demystify the culture of small town America. Over the decades prior to this anthology's publication in 1915, rural and urban cultures in the USA had diverged considerably: to many city-dwellers, how life in the country actually proceeded was simply unknown. Originally serialized in a magazine named Reedy's Mirror, each of the poems give the reader insight into the lives, events, and culture of a typical small country town. Each is titled after a specific character, and contains their thoughts and concerns at a given time. This acts to build a narrative around the small town, which is proven to be colorful and emotionally distinct place, with several characters coping with grief and loss.

The Spoon River Anthology is a classic collection of poems by Edgar Lee Masters, with verses dedicated and named for members of a fictional small American town.Edgar Masters intention when he composed these verses was to demystify the culture of small town America. Over the decades prior to this anthology's publication in 1915, rural and urban cultures in the USA had diverged considerably: to many city-dwellers, how life in the country actually proceeded was simply unknown. Originally serialized in a magazine named Reedy's Mirror, each of the poems give the reader insight into the lives, events, and culture of a typical small country town. Each is titled after a specific character, and contains their thoughts and concerns at a given time. This acts to build a narrative around the small town, which is proven to be colorful and emotionally distinct place, with several characters coping with grief and loss.

"The single most widely read book of American poetry."-James Hurt, Illinois Authors