Spoon River Anthology - Analysis

"Spoon River Anthology" is a very different type of book that is composed of a great deal of free verse poems about people who are "sleeping on the hill" (Masters 514). Masters grew up in Petersburg, Illinois, and this story is composed of people from another small Illinois town. The "Spoon River" was a small tributary to the Illinois River (Cone). One of the characters from his book is Lucinda Matlock. That free verse poem was supposedly about Masters mother (Cone). The poem used a great balance of happiness as well as sadness. The line "we were married and lived together for seventy years" is immediately followed by "raising the twelve children, eight of which we lost" (Masters 516). Realism writing always has the characteristic of depicting life as it occurs, and Master's poem book depicted the lives of around 200 people from the small Illinois town. The final line of the poem "Lucinda Matlock" reads "it takes life to love life" (Masters 516). This special quote helps the reader to realize Ludinda's overall outlook on life. She believes that no one can judge life with out living it first. No one can say that they hate their life if they are not really living it to the fullest. Masters second poem "Fiddler Jones" also depicts somewhat of the same message. The poem is also supposed to depict the life of yet another member of the small Illinois town, which is another example of why this poem is Realism writing. Fiddler Jones was a farmer, which was common for a person to be in the time period that this story was written. He talks about how he has to "till my forty acres" (Masters 517). Fiddler Jones was the perfect example of a farmer at the time, which was the purpose of Realism writing. Master's Spoon River Anthology was well received by many people and is still in printing today. It has also been adapted into some forms of plays.



Masters, Edgar Lee. "Lucinda Matlock." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 514-516. Print.



Masters, Edgar Lee. "Fiddler Jones." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 517. Print.



Cone, Temple. "Spoon River Anthology." In Kimmelman, Burt, and Temple Cone, eds. The Facts On File Companion to American Poetry, vol. 2. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2007. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= CTAP0520&SingleRecord=True (accessed March 2, 2012).