Spoon River Anthology (1915), by Edgar Lee Masters, is a collection of unusual, short, free-form poems that collectively describe the life of the fictional small town of Spoon River, named after the real Spoon River that ran near Masters' home town. The collection includes two hundred and twelve separate characters, all providing two-hundred forty-four accounts of their lives and losses.

Each poem is an epitaph of a dead citizen, delivered by the dead themselves. They speak about the sorts of things one might expect. Some recite their histories and turning points, others make observations of life from the outside, and petty ones complain of the treatment of their graves, while few tell how they really died. Speaking without reason to lie or fear the consequences, they construct a picture of life in their town that is shorn of all façades. The interplay of various villagers — e.g. a bright and successful man crediting his parents for all he's accomplished, and an old woman weeping because he is secretly her illegitimate child — forms a gripping, if not pretty, whole.

The subject of afterlife receives only the occasional brief mention, and even those seem to be contradictory.

The work features such characters as Tom Merritt, Amos Sibley, Carl Hamblin, Fiddler Jones and A.D. Blood. Many of the characters that make appearances in Spoon River Anthology were based on real people that Masters knew or heard of in the two towns in which he grew up, Petersburg and Lewistown, Illinois. Most notable is Ann Rutledge, regarded in local legend to be Abraham Lincoln's early love interest though there is no actual proof of such a relationship. Rutledge's grave can still be found in a Petersburg cemetery, and a tour of graveyards in both towns reveals most of the surnames that Masters applied to his characters.

Other local legends assert that Masters' fictional portrayal of local residents, often in unflattering light, created a lot of embarrassment and aggravation in his hometown. This is offered as an explanation for why he chose not to settle down in Lewistown or Petersburg. (Wikipedia.org)

Edgar Lee Masters (Garnett, Kansas, August 23, 1868 - Melrose Park, Pennsylvania, March 5, 1950) was an American 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.

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Spoon River Anthology by Edgar Lee Masters, the Pennsylvania State University, Electronic Classics Series, Jim Manis, Faculty Editor, Hazleton, PA 18202-1291 is a Portable Document File produced as part of an ongoing student publication project to bring classical works of literature, in English, to free and easy access of those wishing to make use of them.

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Copyright © 2008 The Pennsylvania State University
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Contents
The Hill ................................................................................... 10
Hod Putt ................................................................................. 12
Ollie McGee ............................................................................ 13
Fletcher McGee ....................................................................... 14
Robert Fulton Tanner .............................................................. 15
Cassius Hueffer ........................................................................ 16
Serepta Mason ......................................................................... 17
Amanda Barker ........................................................................ 18
Chase Henry ............................................................................ 19
Judge Somers ........................................................................... 20
Benjamin Pantier ..................................................................... 21
Mrs. Benjamin Pantier ............................................................. 22
Reuben Pantier ........................................................................ 23
Emily Sparks ............................................................................ 24
Trainor, the Druggist ................................................................ 25
Daisy Fraser ............................................................................. 26
Benjamin Fraser ....................................................................... 27
Minerva Jones .......................................................................... 28
“Indignation” Jones .................................................................. 29
“Butch” Weldy ......................................................................... 30
Doctor Meyers ......................................................................... 31
Mrs. Meyers ............................................................................. 32
Knowlt Hoheimer .................................................................... 33
Lydia Puckett ........................................................................... 34
Frank Drummer....................................................................... 35
Hare Drummer ........................................................................ 36
Doc Hill .................................................................................. 37
Sarah Brown ............................................................................ 38
Percy Bysshe Shelley ................................................................. 39
Flossie Cabanis......................................................................... 40
Julia Miller ............................................................................... 41
Johnnie Sayre ........................................................................... 42
Charlie French ......................................................................... 43
Zenas Witt ............................................................................... 44
Theodore the Poet.................................................................... 45
The Town Marshal ................................................................... 46
Jack McGuire ........................................................................... 47
Jacob Goodpasture ................................................................... 48
Dorcas Gustine ........................................................................ 49
Nicholas Bindle........................................................................ 50
Harold Arnett .......................................................................... 51
Margaret Fuller Slack ............................................................... 52
George Trimble ........................................................................ 53
“Ace” Shaw............................................................................... 54
Willard Fluke ........................................................................... 55
Aner Clute ............................................................................... 56
Lucius Atherton ....................................................................... 57
Homer Clapp........................................................................... 58
Deacon Taylor .......................................................................... 59
Sam Hookey ............................................................................ 60
Cooney Potter .......................................................................... 61
Fiddler Jones ............................................................................ 62
Nellie Clark ............................................................................. 63
Louise Smith ............................................................................ 64
Herbert Marshall ..................................................................... 65
George Gray ............................................................................ 66
Hon. Henry Bennett ................................................................ 67
Griffy the Cooper .................................................................... 68
A. D. Blood ............................................................................. 69
Dora Williams ......................................................................... 70
Mrs. Williams .......................................................................... 71
William and Emily ................................................................... 72
The Circuit Judge .................................................................... 73
Blind Jack ................................................................................ 74
John Horace Burleson .............................................................. 75
Nancy Knapp ........................................................................... 76
Barry Holden ........................................................................... 77
State’s Attorney Fallas ............................................................... 78
Wendell P. Bloyd ...................................................................... 79
Francis Turner .......................................................................... 80
Franklin Jones .......................................................................... 81
John M. Church ...................................................................... 82
Russian Sonia ........................................................................... 83
Petit, the Poet ........................................................................... 84
Pauline Barrett ......................................................................... 85
Mrs. Charles Bliss .................................................................... 86
Mrs. George Reece ................................................................... 87
Rev. Lemuel Wiley ................................................................... 88
Thomas Ross, Jr. ...................................................................... 89
Rev. Abner Peet ........................................................................ 90
Jefferson Howard ..................................................................... 91
Albert Schirding ....................................................................... 92
Jonas Keene ............................................................................. 93
Yee Bow ................................................................................... 94
Washington McNeely .............................................................. 95
Mary McNeely ......................................................................... 96
Daniel M’Cumber ................................................................... 97
Georgine Sand Miner ............................................................... 98
Thomas Rhodes ....................................................................... 99
Penniwit, the Artist ................................................................ 100
Jim Brown ............................................................................. 101
Robert Davidson .................................................................... 102
Elsa Wertman......................................................................... 103
Hamilton Greene ................................................................... 104
Ernest Hyde ........................................................................... 105
Roger Heston ......................................................................... 106
Amos Sibley ........................................................................... 107
Mrs. Sibley ............................................................................. 108
Adam Weirauch ..................................................................... 109
Ezra Bartlett ........................................................................... 110
Amelia Garrick ....................................................................... 111
John Hancock Otis ................................................................ 112
The Unknown ....................................................................... 113
Jonathan Swift Somers (Author of the Spooniad) ................... 114
Widow McFarlane ................................................................. 115
Carl Hamblin ........................................................................ 116
Editor Whedon ...................................................................... 117
Eugene Carman ..................................................................... 118
Clarence Fawcett .................................................................... 119
W. Lloyd Garrison Standard ................................................... 120
Professor Newcomer .............................................................. 121
Ralph Rhodes ........................................................................ 122
Mickey M’Grew ..................................................................... 123
Rosie Roberts ......................................................................... 124
Oscar Hummel ...................................................................... 125
Josiah Tompkins..................................................................... 126
Roscoe Purkapile .................................................................... 127
Mrs. Purkapile ....................................................................... 128
Mrs. Kessler ........................................................................... 129
Harmon Whitney .................................................................. 130
Bert Kessler ............................................................................ 131
Lambert Hutchins .................................................................. 132
Lillian Stewart ........................................................................ 133
Hortense Robbins .................................................................. 134
Jacob Godbey ........................................................................ 135
Walter Simmons .................................................................... 136
Tom Beatty ............................................................................ 137
Roy Butler ............................................................................. 138
Searcy Foote ........................................................................... 139
Edmund Pollard ..................................................................... 140
Thomas Trevelyan .................................................................. 141
Percival Sharp ........................................................................ 142
Hiram Scates .......................................................................... 143
Peleg Poague .......................................................................... 144
Jeduthan Hawley ................................................................... 145
Abel Melveny ......................................................................... 146
Oaks Tutt ............................................................................... 147
Elliott Hawkins ...................................................................... 148
Enoch Dunlap ....................................................................... 149
Ida Frickey ............................................................................. 150
Seth Compton ....................................................................... 151
Felix Schmidt ......................................................................... 152
Richard Bone ......................................................................... 153
Silas Dement .......................................................................... 154
Dillard Sissman ...................................................................... 155
E. C. Culbertson .................................................................... 156
Shack Dye .............................................................................. 157
Hildrup Tubbs ....................................................................... 158
Henry Tripp ........................................................................... 159
Granville Calhoun ................................................................. 160
Henry C. Calhoun ................................................................. 161
Alfred Moir ............................................................................ 162
Perry Zoll ............................................................................... 163
Magrady Graham ................................................................... 164
Archibald Higbie ................................................................... 165
Tom Merritt ........................................................................... 166
Mrs. Merritt ........................................................................... 167
Elmer Karr ............................................................................. 168
Elizabeth Childers .................................................................. 169
Edith Conant ......................................................................... 170
Father Malloy......................................................................... 171
Ami Green ............................................................................. 172
Calvin Campbell .................................................................... 173
Henry Layton ........................................................................ 174
Harlan Sewall ......................................................................... 175
Ippolit Konovaloff .................................................................. 176
Henry Phipps......................................................................... 177
Harry Wilmans ...................................................................... 178
John Wasson .......................................................................... 179
Many Soldiers ........................................................................ 180
Godwin James........................................................................ 181
Lyman King ........................................................................... 182
Caroline Branson ................................................................... 183
Anne Rutledge ....................................................................... 185
Hamlet Micure ...................................................................... 186
Mabel Osborne ...................................................................... 187
William H. Herndon ............................................................. 188
Rutherford McDowell ............................................................ 189
Hannah Armstrong ................................................................ 190
Lucinda Matlock .................................................................... 191
Davis Matlock ........................................................................ 192
Jennie M’Grew....................................................................... 193
Columbus Cheney ................................................................. 194
Tennessee Claflin Shope ......................................................... 195
Imanuel Ehrenhardt ............................................................... 196
Samuel Gardner ..................................................................... 197
Dow Kritt .............................................................................. 198
William Jones ........................................................................ 199
William Goode ...................................................................... 200
J. Milton Miles ...................................................................... 201
Faith Matheny ....................................................................... 202
Willie Metcalf ........................................................................ 203
Willie Pennington .................................................................. 204
The Village Atheist ................................................................ 205
John Ballard ........................................................................... 206
Julian Scott ............................................................................ 207
Alfonso Churchill .................................................................. 208
Zilpha Marsh ........................................................................ 209
James Garber ......................................................................... 210
Lydia Humphrey .................................................................... 211
Le Roy Goldman ................................................................... 212
Gustav Richter ....................................................................... 213
Arlo Will ................................................................................ 214
Captain Orlando Killion ........................................................ 215
Joseph Dixon ......................................................................... 216
Russell Kincaid ...................................................................... 217
Aaron Hatfield ....................................................................... 218
Isaiah Beethoven .................................................................... 219
Elijah Browning ..................................................................... 220
Webster Ford ......................................................................... 222
The Spooniad ........................................................................ 223

The Hill
WHERE are Elmer, Herman, Bert, Tom and Charley,
The weak of will, the strong of arm, the clown, the boozer, the fighter?
All, all are sleeping on the hill.
One passed in a fever,
One was burned in a mine,
One was killed in a brawl,
One died in a jail,
One fell from a bridge toiling for children and wife-
All, all are sleeping, sleeping, sleeping on the hill.
Where are Ella, Kate, Mag, Lizzie and Edith,
The tender heart, the simple soul, the loud, the proud, the happy one?—
All, all are sleeping on the hill.
One died in shameful child-birth,
One of a thwarted love,
One at the hands of a brute in a brothel,
One of a broken pride, in the search for heart’s desire;
One after life in far-away London and Paris
Was brought to her little space by Ella and Kate and Mag—
All, all are sleeping, sleeping, sleeping on the hill.
Where are Uncle Isaac and Aunt Emily,
And old Towny Kincaid and Sevigne Houghton,
And Major Walker who had talked
With venerable men of the revolution?—
All, all are sleeping on the hill.
They brought them dead sons from the war,
And daughters whom life had crushed,

And their children fatherless, crying—
All, all are sleeping, sleeping, sleeping on the hill.
Where is Old Fiddler Jones
Who played with life all his ninety years,
Braving the sleet with bared breast,
Drinking, rioting, thinking neither of wife nor kin,
Nor gold, nor love, nor heaven?
Lo! he babbles of the fish-frys of long ago,
Of the horse-races of long ago at Clary’s Grove,
Of what Abe Lincoln said
One time at Springfield.

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