Spoon River Anthology

A landmark of American literature told in dramatic monologues that topples the myth of the moral superiority of small-town life

In 1915, Edgar Lee Masters published a book written in free verse about a fictional town called Spoon River, based on the Midwestern towns where he grew up. The shocking scandals and secret tragedies of Spoon River were immediately recognized by readers as authentic. Masters raises the dead “sleeping on the hill” in their village cemetery to tell the truth about their lives, and their testimony reveals that Spoon River is as undeniably corrupt and cruel as the big city, home to murderers, drunkards, crooked bankers, lechers, bitter wives, abusive husbands, failed dreamers—and a few good souls.

With an introduction by John Hollander and an afterword by Ronald Primeau