Spoon River Anthology

Edgar Lee Masters’ revolutionary work, Spoon River Anthology, shattered the conventions of American poetry. Within these pages, the inhabitants of a small Midwestern town rise from their graves in the fictional Spoon River cemetery to deliver their own epitaphs—unvarnished, poignant, and fiercely honest.
In a series of free-verse monologues, over two hundred souls unravel the secrets, dreams, hypocrisies, and tragedies of their intertwined lives. The banker, the poet, the drunkard, the lover, the reformer, and the scorned wife each take their turn, painting a panoramic and devastating portrait of a community. Their confessions reveal a hidden tapestry of thwarted ambitions, forbidden loves, simmering resentments, and quiet desperations, all concealed beneath the veneer of provincial respectability.
First published in 1915, this landmark book is a piercing critique of the American small town and a profound meditation on the universal human condition. It is a chorus of voices from beyond the grave, challenging the living to see the truth behind the masks we wear. Stark, lyrical, and unforgettable, Spoon River Anthology remains a timeless masterpiece, echoing with the whispered truths of every human heart.